Cloudy Moon
by CaptainHazel
Summary: Remus Lupin's childhood was cut short, 12 years too short. How can a scared, skinny boy harbouring a deep dark secret possibly fit into Hogwarts and feel at home when all he longs for is the forgotten love of his mother.
1. Cuddles and curses

**Hey people :)**

**Thought I had died? Well I am back after a brief period of nothingness. **

**I am still going to carry on with window kisses I just am taking a break because Scorpius was being really hard to write, so here is some good marauder fun for you all :) **

**I do ship Remus/Sirius, but I don't know if it will be in this story ;)**

The sun had set on Remus Lupin's childhood earlier than most, 12 years earlier to be exact.

When most childhoods were left behind at the age of 16, Remus had had his prematurely ripped from him at the age of 4.

The events of that night often chose to go streaming back to him when he was at his weakest or asleep, creeping forward till they pounced upon him and tearing open old wounds.

~o0O0o~

Shabby though the small stone cottage was, Remus saw it as a wonderful new place to explore and find secrets that only he would know.

His little four year old mind completely forgetting his old home opened up welcoming arms to the new more interesting cottage his father had bought for his mother to live happily in.

"Daddy" Remus squealed "This is amazing!" his brown hair bobbed up and down as he jumped about in excitement, his light hazel eyes gleaming.

"Come on Remus, let's explore" His mother called to him, a similar excitement in her own sweet voice "I'll race you to the door!"

Remus let go of his father's hand and started running towards the house, his chubby legs pounding as a gleeful giggle escaped him lips.

Planting a swift kiss on her husband's lips, Annabelle Lupin chased after her infant son, her dark hair streaming out behind her.

"I won! Mummy I won!" Remus shouted happily from the doorway of the pale stone cottage.

"Oh Remus you clever boy! How shall I ever beat you?" Annabelle cooed into Remus's soft hair as she scooped him up into her arms.

John Lupin walked slowly over, smiling at his wife and son as they started giggling, their voices ringing out across the small grassy glade that their new house sat proudly in the middle of.

~o0O0o~

Remus sat next to his mother in the small stone out-building that was about 20 yards from the back door.

"Remus darling, would you please pass me that bag of black roots please" Annabelle asked him as she busily started cutting and grinding ingredients at the same time.

"here you go mummy" Remus smiled at her, his chubby little hand clasped around a small material bag filled with little knobbly back roots.

Annabelle gave him a hug, before lifting him off the wooden table and placing him on the stone floor.

"Come now, we need to let this brew before I add the rest of the ingredients" Remus took hold of his mother's hand and they walked back towards the squatted backdoor of their little cottage.

Remus knew the cosy rooms of the house fairly well, considering he had only been living there for a week, and had decided without much deliberation that the kitchen was his favourite place.

His mother stood over the old fashioned cooker, her dark hair a wavy mess above her head, and Remus sat snugly on one of the wooden chairs, swaddled by his father's old travelling cloak.

His chubby hands holding a brightly coloured book that his mother had taught him to read, and a small battered blue teddy called Mr. Cloud tucked under his arm.

A load crack from the hall way made Remus squeal in delight and jump off the chair, taking the old robe with him and trialling it across the floor.

"Daddy!" Remus called before hurtling himself at his father, who only just managed to catch the little boy before he crashing to the wooden dresser.

"Hello Little one" Remus's father smiled at him, before untangling his sons flailing arms and legs from the dark robe and placing him on his shoulders.

Remus grabbed handfuls of his father's brown hair and chuckled delightedly as they entered the kitchen.

"Really John, you'll spoil the boy" Annabelle clucked disapprovingly at her husband, but was unable to hide an amused smile.

"Sit" she ordered before placing down three dishes of steaming food onto the scrubbed wood of the kitchen table.

~o0O0o~

Remus sat snuggled up on his father's lap, breathing in the reassuring sent of love and security.

John Lupin was absentmindedly stroking his sons soft hair as he read the Daily prophet, his eyes darting across the page as a worried frown took residence on his already lined face.

"What is it, love?" Annabelle asked as she assembled her equipment ready to go and collect her ingredients from the small wood that backed the house.

"That werewolf Greyback, you know the insane one, it says here he has escaped his high security prison and is on a rampage throughout London." John spoke with a tinge of worry in his voice 2Be careful tonight"

Annabelle laughed, throwing her head back and letting her hair bounce around her plae features that Remus shared.

"We're no were near London John, I'll be fine" Annabelle kissed the top and his head then bent down to ruffle Remus's hair.

"Mummy! I want to go too, you promised!" Remus slipped down of his father's lap and placed his small hands on his hips.

"Remus I don't think its saf….." John Lupin started but his wife interrupted.

"Don't be silly John; of course he can come with me" Annabelle scolded her husband, before picking up Remus and began to pull is little arms through a warm and fluffy cloak.

~o0O0o~

The moon cast long dark shadows across the lawn as Annabelle and Remus walked into the forest hand in hand, a small wicker basket in Remus's small hand to put the collected ingredients in.

As they entered the wood Remus felt fear crawl up into his throat and he clutched at his mother's robes for reassurance.

"Darling don't worry the dark can't hurt you" Annabelle told him softly before hugging his little body to hers.

Eventually they reached the glade where the little white moon flowers grew, there pale flowers turning towards the gentle light of the moon.

Annabelle crouched down and began picking the flowers, while Remus skipped around the clearing, singing songs in his delicate little voice trying to stop his fear of the dark.

A glinting light a little way into the trees caught Remus's attention, and glancing back quickly at his mother, He stepped forward eager to see what made such a pretty light.

Remus let out a frustrated little sigh when he found no pretty shiny object, just more trees.

Glancing up he began walking back to his mother, when he realised he couldn't see her anymore fear took him and a small frightened whimper escaped his lips.

Rustling behind him made Remus's heart beat wildly, and he found little hot tears were running down his face, He had lost his mother and now the darkness was all around him.

The rustling continued and Remus span round to see where it was coming from.

Two glinting eyes peered back at him from the deep shadows cast beneath the trees, and a rumbling growl made him Squeak in terror.

Running madly away from the sound of thumping paws on the ground, Remus dodged trees desperate to reach his mothers soothing arms.

Tripping over a root, he flew forwards and hit the ground, the thumping paws and growls were suddenly upon him.

Screaming, Remus tried to escape the knifelike claws and the tearing teeth that sent bursts of hot crippling pain across his body.

"REMUS!" His mothers terror filled voice screamed before a flash of red light sent the heavy weight and the unstoppable pain flying away from his body.

Remus felt the thuds of the paws as they redirected their attack on his mother who screamed and screamed.

Blood filled his mouth and Remus could feel the tugs of sleep, He didn't want to sleep, he wanted his mother and the pain to go.

The last thing that filled Remus's mind was the heartbreaking sound of his father's voice as he screamed his son's and wife's names.


	2. Almost friends and Chocolate frogs

**Any spelling mistakes aren't my fault :) I swear **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter and please please review; it is what drives me to write :) **

**Hazel x**

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><p>Fear churned Remus's stomach up until he felt he might be sick all over his father.<p>

He didn't belong here; He didn't deserve to get onto the gleaming scarlet train with the rest of the children. Remus knew he should still be at home in his little room at the top of the old stone cottage he and his father still lived in.

But Professor Dumbledore had given him this chance, offered him a light in the darkness that no one else could, Remus knew he couldn't just refuse to go.

"Dad, I'm scared" Remus breathed, hardly daring to look into the wizened face of his once carefree father.

"Remus, I promise you that these will be the happiest days of your life" John Lupin spoke with a longing in his voice; Remus knew his father wished he was getting aboard the train as well.

"B-b-b-but what h-happens if I d-d-don't make f-friends?" Remus whispered his voice barely audible. Remus felt as if a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders after he had spoken his fear, though some of the weight still remained, reminding him of his loneliness.

"Don't worry son, you'll be fine and anyway if you don't make any friends, just remember that this is your chance to do something great, no one else like you gets this opportunity" Remus's father told him firmly before pulling him into a quick hug.

"Love you" Remus mumbled before pulling back and walking towards the train.

"Have fun Remus!" John Lupin called before sweeping over to the queue for the floo-network that headed for the ministry of magic.

Remus lugged his trunk to the farthest compartment, but left it on the floor, he was still weak from his transformation earlier that week and Remus knew he still looked rather sickly.

Sitting on the seat closest to the window, Remus looked out at the platform covered in parents and children who had yet to board the scarlet train.

His eyes wavered on the figure of a tall boy; He still looked like a first year though, with silky black hair and blue-grey eyes who was arguing with who seemed to be his mother and younger sibling.

The door to Remus's compartment opened, pulling him back into the real world.

"Are you a first year?" a small roundish face peered through the half open door, a slightly fearful look in his eyes.

Remus nodded and tried a reassuring smile, which must have worked as the small boy dragged his trunk in and sat on the seat opposite him. A faint blush was on his cheeks, but Remus was unsure whether it was from the exertion of pulling the trunk about, or the embarrassment of asking for a free seat.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew" the boy said holding out a chubby hand to Remus.

"R-Remus Lupin" Remus replied, his voice wavering a little. Had he just made a new friend? Or was this one of them mutual acquaintances he had heard his father talk of.

"Cool name" Peter exclaimed before plunging his hand into his pocket and pulling out a handful of chocolate frogs "Want one? I nicked them off my sister, she won't miss them"

Remus gingerly took the sweet from the boy's hand and nibbled on the chocolate, he didn't get it often and when he did he made it last.

The train lurched to a start, and slowly the surroundings began to zip past as the train picked up speed.

Remus and Peter sat in silence; it wasn't uncomfortable like it sometimes was between Remus and his father, it was just there while both boys got used to that fact they were finally going.

A loud crash and the sound of two boys laughing broke the silence and Remus nearly jumped off his seat, the tall dark haired boy from the station was standing in the doorway with another boy, who was equally as tall and dark but looked less refined and wore glasses.

"You don't sound like a very good Black do you?" The one with glasses joked "Aren't you supposed to be dark and moody and sitting with the other slimy ones?"

"Shut it Potter" the first boy told him, then looked in at Remus and Peter "Is it okay if we sit here?"

Remus was about to answer, but Peter beat him to it "Course you can" Remus watched in muted amusement at the awe in the chubby boy's eyes.

"Cool" The tall boy from the station said offhandedly before plonking himself down next to Remus, and the boy with glasses next to Peter, who looked like he might die of joy any second.

"I'm Sirius Black" The boy announced then waved his hand lazily at the boy with glasses "That there is James Potter"

"Hey!" James cried indignantly "I wanted to introduce myself, anyway what are your names?" He asked Peter and Remus casually.

"Oh yeh, I forgot, I'm Peter Pettigrew" Peter said proudly then added "And that's Remus Lupin"

Remus felt all their eyes turn to him, and he tried not to look at them in case he seemed awkward or odd.

"Don't you talk then?" Sirius asked him bluntly, no trace of shame in his voice just arrogance.

Remus opened his mouth, but closed it again unable to speak, he felt his cheeks redden and he hunched his shoulders in a protective manner.

"Guess not then" Sirius snorted then turned his attention to Peter.

"You want to play exploding snap?"

~o0O0o~

Remus stood in the line waiting to be sorted, panic rising in his chest. _What happens if the hat won't put me in a house?_ He thought desperately _what if it tells the whole school what I am?_

The students seemed to run like water past the sorting hat and soon it was Remus sitting on the wooden stool, the hat over his head.

'_So son of the moon, werewolf, where to put you, eh?'_ The voiced seemed to be in his mind and the thought unnerved him a little.

'_Not Slytherin or Huffelpuff, maybe Ravenclaw, you have talent, lots of talent and wit, but I see something deeper'_ Remus's breath hitched up a notch, he was going to deign him a place in any house, he just knew it.

'_Only place for you is…' _the hat whispered before shouting "GRYFFINDOR" Out to the hall.

A deafening roar accompanied Remus as he stumbled towards the cheering students of the Gryffindor table.

Remus sat down next to another first year, and smiled widely, he had never imagined coming to Hogwarts let alone getting in to Gryffindor.

"Congratulations" The girl next to him smiled "I'm Lilly Evans. You're Remus right?" She asked him.

Remus nodded, his voice had deserted him and he couldn't quite find it again.

"He doesn't talk you know, just blushes like an idiot and looks away" Sirius told Lilly from across the table, a stupid grin on his handsome face.

Remus started to curl inwards, and felt his face redden.

"See, He's doing it right now!" Sirius laughed, which made Remus blush even more. Remus hated the fact his face reddened at the smallest things, it made him look painfully shy.

"Stop it! That's just plain cruel Sirius Black!" Lilly scolded him before turning back to a small girl on the other side of her.

~o0O0o~

Weary from all the excitement, the first years trooped after the two Gryffindor prefects up to the tower the common room was housed in.

Upon entering the cosy room, the small group was split up, boys going one way and the girls the other. Remus followed the other boys nervously as they were assigned rooms.

"Right Dorm room Three, This will be your dorm room for the rest of your school life at Hogwarts, enjoy" The prefect announced cheerfully, and then looked down at his list to determine who was to be housed in that room.

"So, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, have a good night sleep, lessons in the morning!" He said before ushering the rest of the boys further along the corridor.

Sirius walked in first, and spying his trunk flopped on top of his bed.

Remus walked noiselessly over to his bed, and without looking at anyone pulled his toothbrush and flannel from his trunk and walked into the bathroom.

Locking the door, Remus turned the tap on and proceeded to get ready for bed, he would never share the mirror or sink with any of his dorm mates; he dreaded to think what would happen to him if they ever saw his scars.

Bending over the sink, Remus's acute hearing picked up the conversation from the other side of the wooden door.

"What do you think is wrong with him? I mean he hasn't said a word to me or you" James asked someone, probably Sirius.

"Do I look like I read minds James? Why couldn't we have had someone normal instead of him, I mean come on, he looks barely there!" Sirius ranted back at him.

"Why can't we just ignore him? He has made a pretty good effort at avoiding talking or even looking at us" James told him before sitting down causing his bed springs to creak.

"Okay, But I'm sure as hell I'm never going to make friends with him, he's just odd, and frankly it's unnerving" Sirius voice was muffled, Remus guessed his face was pressed into the pillows at the top of the bed.

Remus knew they couldn't have known about his good hearing skills, they thought their conversation was covered by the thick wooden door and the running water, but Remus still felt his eyes prick with hot tears.

When He was done in the bathroom, Remus stalked back to his bed, looking down at the floor and not at the three boys he was sharing the dorm with.

Pulling the curtains around him, Remus changed quickly then sat huddled up at the top end of the bed, trying to ignore the stares he could sense from the others.

_Father I really hope you are right about all of this_, Remus thought to himself, _I really do._

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><p><em><strong>PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU ALL THINK :) <strong>  
><em>


	3. Hurts from the Moon

**Hello, enjoy this chapter :) sorry it's not up to a high standard it was rushed off quite quickly :)**

**Review please!**

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><p>The first month of Remus's stay at Hogwarts was the loneliest he could ever remember.<p>

From the night He had heard his roommates discussing him, Remus had avoided them completely. He woke early to shower before they got up and at night he ignored them and kept his curtains closed.

Remus had no friends, and though he had never had any anyway, he still felt shunned and miserable.

As the Moon grew larger and fuller, Remus felt the wolf grow restless and come closer to the surface, his muscles ached and a slight fever had begun to break across his brow.

All too soon the day of the full moon was upon him.

Waking up, Remus could already feel the tug of the moon that meant he would be transforming that night.

Wincing as he went, Remus stumbled over to the bathroom to shower before the other boys woke up and got ready for school.

When he finally locked the door and climbed into the shower, his bed clothes discarded on the floor, Remus's muscles were screaming in pain and a splitting headache had licked across his head.

Stumbling a little, Remus put his hand out to steady himself, but pulled it back instantly as he hissed in pain, the shower was made out of silver and usually he covered the tap with a towel, it left his pale hand blistered and red.

Biting down on his lip and holding in the tears of pain, Remus lurched forward and turned the glass topped sink tap and shoved his hand under the cool torrent of water.

Whimpering in pain as the coolness bit into him, he looked up at his reflection in the thick mirror and cringed.

His face was sunken and waxy, his eyes dead with deep purple rings that contrasted starkly against his chapped thin lips.

Remus hadn't felt like eating much the past few weeks and now the consequence was plainly obvious, his bones jutted out and he looked dreadfully thin, No wonder his school clothes seemed to hang off him like a baggy tent.

Pulling on his school robes and trying not enflame his hand, Remus gave up on the prospect of a shower, he didn't see the point considering he would be covered in blood by the end of the day anyway.

None of the boys would be awake yet, so Remus didn't wipe the tears away that had somehow escaped though his dark lashes.

Head down, he walked over to his trunk to return his belongings to the old leather trunk, but a sharp gasping noise made him snap his head to look at the figure of Sirius Black sitting up in bed.

"Bloody hell! What happened to you?" Sirius exclaimed Shock and pity in his smooth voice.

Remus blushed and ignored him, ran a comb through his light brown hair and walked out of the dormitory, his satchel hanging over one shoulder.

He didn't want to be pitied; he didn't want to be felt sorry for. All Remus wanted was for someone, anyone, to except him as he was and not question his actions or make fun of him.

But, he thought sadly, you're a werewolf, no one will be your friend if they ever find out, you can't have a best friend, and they would soon work out the truth so maybe being lonely is the best option.

~o0O0o~

Remus could feel Sirius's stares on the back of his neck all through History of magic; they were insistent and hard, almost as if they were trying to burn their way into Remus's mind.

Shoulders hunched forward, Remus tried to curb the fears inside of him, Sirius couldn't possibly know what was wrong with him could he?

Shortly the class was dismissed and Remus look down stricken at his empty page of parchment, he had been worrying and trying to stop the urge to be sick all through the class, and now he had missed the lecture Professor Binns had given to the class.

Swiftly shoving his unused parchment and quill into his bag, Remus followed the rest of the class as they spilled out into the brightly lit corridor.

The jostling, slow journey to Transfiguration caused Remus's headache to flare up painfully, and he could almost feel himself paling considerably.

A warm hand on Remus's shoulder pulled him back from entering the Transfiguration classroom, and towards the wall.

"Remus, are you okay?" Lilly Evans asked him, her green eyes filled with concern and her red hair falling over one side of her face.

"I-I-I'm fine" He mumbled back embarrassed, he hated it when people felt sorry for him.

"You don't look fine; you look like death warmed up. Personally I think you should go see Madam Pomfrey" She told him firmly, worry in her face.

Remus was about to argue, but suddenly remembered the unnerving stares from Sirius and thought better of it.

"I think I might actually" He told her a weak smile on his lips "Tell McGonagall I'm sorry for missing her class" Remus didn't wait for Lilly to talk again, he just shouldered his bag and walked back towards the Hospital wing.

Remus had met Madam Pomfrey near the end of the summer holidays when He and his father had come to visit Professor Dumbledore to arrange all that needed arranging.

From what he could remember, she was a nice decent sort of person who was currently best in her field of work.

Pushing open the doors that led into the hospital wing, Remus stepped inside, he could feel the blush already rising on his cheeks.

Startled Madam Pomfrey looked up from her work "I wasn't expecting you till later this evening Mr. Lupin" she told him before rising from her chair and walking over to him.

"S-s-sorry, it's just I felt ill and w-w-was told to come to you" Remus stuttered, he wasn't sure coming to the hospital wing was quite a good an idea as he had before.

"Don't worry Remus, I take it this is an effect of you Lycanthropy?" she smiled down at him before ushering him into the concealed room that had been especially put there for him, Remus saw little flits of shock in the young healers eyes at his appearance, she obviously hadn't dealt with a werewolf before.

She led him to the bed under a small window, and instructed him to sit while she fetched some potions to stop the pain.

Remus sat and read all afternoon until it was time to leave.

Changed into his old robes, He and madam Pomfrey made their way over to the Womping Willow, fear and dread twisted around inside of him.

Madam Pomfrey didn't stay long in the shrieking shack and Remus felt so incredibly lonely as he sat leant against the cold wall, waiting for the moon to turn his human screams into very wolfish howls.

~o0O0o~

A warm fluffiness surrounded Remus as he slowly regained consciousness, his arms felt heavy and when he tried to move them, sharp stabs of pain jumped across his chest.

He whimpered a little, it was only a little noise but still it caught someone's attention as he heard a soft thump of feet on the clean floor.

"Remus? Are you awake dear?" Madam Pomfrey's soothing voice floated over him, and Remus forced a groggy eye open.

Her face was smiling down at him, and Remus had to blink a couple of times to focus on her features.

He tried to shift his position but stopped as the movement caused him so much pain he almost cried out.

"Hurts" Remus croaked out, he hadn't realised how thirsty he was until a glass of water was pressed against his dry lips and he gulped greedily.

"Is it normally this bad?" Madam Pomfrey asked Remus quietly whilst stroking his brown hair out his eyes.

"No" he answered "The wolf was angry, he didn't know his surroundings and that made it agitated" he spoke whilst looking down at his bandaged hands, what had the wolf done to him?

Remus stayed in the hospital wing for three more days before Madam Pomfrey saw it fit for him leave and entre back into the hectic life of Hogwarts for another month.

It was Saturday evening and most students were in their respective common rooms, so Remus's advance was unnoticed and obstacle free for the first few corridors.

He reached a disused corridor on the fifth floor and was about to walk down it when raised voices stopped him, someone was having an argument and it didn't sound like they wanted to be interrupted.

Remus turned back towards the staircases, but a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks. Sirius Black was down that dark corridor and it didn't sound like he was arguing with James Potter.

Keeping to the dark shadows that covered one side of the corridor, Remus quietly walked over to the arguing group.

James and Peter were with Sirius and both looking very scared, they were being confronted by five fourth year Slytherins who all looked angry.

"Ha, you think just because you're in Slytherin and I'm not you can boss me around? Well I am still a black and you're just a nothing!" Sirius was close to the boys face his anger practically crackling off him.

"You're nothing but a blood traitor, your family hates you and so do we you filthy piece of scum" The older boys voice was harsh and mocking and the half light made him seem almost skeletal.

"At least my mother doesn't go around engaging with the first homeless person she meets down Knock turn alley" Sirius screeched back at him. It must have hit a sore spot as the older boy's eyes narrowed and he reached his wand.

Remus knew what was going to happen before it did, the older boy was going to curse or hex Sirius into oblivion.

Without hesitation Remus found his wand in his hand and the spell already soaring through the air towards the older boy.

Shocked faces looked at him as the boy's wand flew to the floor with a thud; Sirius was staring at him as if he couldn't believe his eyes and the Slytherins were fuming.

A tall sour faced boy raised his wand and shot a red blast of fizzing light towards Remus's skinny figure, but with the wolf still close to the surface he managed to dodge it.

Growling angrily, the boy who had confronted Sirius retrieved his wand and slashed it through the air causing Remus to hurtle backwards and collide with a hard stone engraving.

Glaring at the three other boys, the Slytherins stalked off back down the corridor.

It took a moment for Remus to reassemble his thoughts as his head throbbed from the impact, but by then the three others were making their way over to him.

Struggling to his feet, Remus ignored the wide eyed stares his dorm mates were giving him, and pushed past them heading for the Gryffindor common room.

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><p><strong>Review please :D <strong>


	4. Forgivness and Laughter

**Hey, been a long time since I uploaded, sorry been busy with homework, so this has been put off till today.**

**Enjoy and don't forget the review/fave if you like it :)**

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><p>Remus knew he wouldn't be left alone, he'd seen their faces they would want answers. Things like "Why did you do it?" and "We didn't need your help, I could have handled it" Remus lay curled up on top of his bed, the curtains closed waiting for the onslaught he knew would soon be upon him.<p>

About fifteen minutes later, the soft sound of feet on the stone stairs alerted Remus to the arrival of his dorm mates, and he curled up even tighter, he didn't want to talk to them, they hated him and thought he was just an annoying feature in their lives.

The three boys murmured something to each other, and then a scuffling noise was heard as one of them was pushed forward to talk to Remus.

Whoever it was stopped just outside of Remus's bed hangings, and gave a little cough as if clearing their throat.

Remus didn't respond, he didn't want to.

The hanging twitched and Sirius's face peered through, he looked embarrassed, a look Remus couldn't remember seeing on his face before.

"Uh, Remus thanks for that mate, we all really appreciate it" Sirius told him awkwardly whilst he ran his fingers over the embossed edge of the red material used to surround the beds.

Eyes wide in shock, Remus turned his head up to look at Sirius's, but winced instead, the movement had made the cut on the back of his head ,the transformation had given him, flare up painfully.

He whimpered quietly and tried to hide the bleeding cut, but Sirius had already seen it and a shocked disgusted look had covered his face.

Sitting down on the bed, Sirius pulled Remus's face towards his and twisted it so he could see the gash, causing Remus to cry out as the hot pain bubbled up.

"Sirius" James shouted affronted before striding over to where his best friend sat on Remus's bed "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're ruddy hurting him!" He began pulling him off but Sirius stopped him.

"It's not me you moron! Look, it's the Slytherins fault!" Sirius slapped James's hand away and pointed to Remus who was feeling ever so slightly overwhelmed.

James paled "Merlin, it's bleeding like buckets, do you think we should tell someone?"

Remus watched Sirius raise an eyebrow as if questioning James's intelligence.

"Hospital wing!" James declared before running over to Peter who looked kind of queasy at the sight of all the blood.

"Please, I-I'm fine, honestly!" Remus pleaded softly, he didn't want to go back and see Madam Pomfrey's disapproving face.

"It' the hospital wing or Jamsie boy here fixes you up, personally I'd go with Madam Pomfrey" Sirius told him before pulling him to his feet and ushering him out and down and towards the common room.

No one looked at them as they past, all too engrossed in work and conversations with their friends. Remus was glad that he could slip past unnoticed, but he wished that Sirius Black would take his hand off of his shoulder, it felt alien and uncomfortable.

The light had deserted the castle a few hours ago, and Remus knew that if they were caught out of their common room they would be in trouble, but when they reached the doors leading into the hospital wing unhindered, Remus found himself letting out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

Peter glanced back at Remus, then walked forward and pushed open the door and holding it open with is pudgy hand so as to let Remus and Sirius In.

The long room was bathed in a comforting glow the recently lit candles that were stored safely away in niches on the wall.

Remus shrunk back a little, desperate not to see Madam Pomfrey's disappointed face at the fact he had gone and gotten hurt so soon after she had released him.

James and Peter had caught the young healer's attention, and she left her work and began to trot over to them, a disapproving look on her face. The presence of either three of the boys usually meant reversing some kind of horrendous hex or fixing them up after a fight.

"Mr Potter? What brings you here at this time of night, if it's another hex I promise you I will soon be banning you from entering the hospital wing unless you are seriously injured for a legitimate reason" her voice was stern and her arms were folded.

"Hey! It's not me, and plus it's not always hexes" James told her, fain hurt in his voice.

"Well if it's not you, it's either Mr Black or Mr Pettigrew and the same applies to all of you" She eyed Peter suspiciously, checking to see if some part of him glowing a different colour or one of limbs was grossly large.

Peter flushed then spoke embarrassment sharp in his weedy voice "It's not us Madam, its Remus"

Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened as she tried to connect Remus with the three boys who had so far, that she knew, never even spoken to him.

"Mr Lupin?" She asked carefully so as to check she was thinking of the person.

Sirius pushed Remus's back a little so he went stumbling forward slightly, Madam Pomfrey's head snapped around from James and Peter to look at Remus.

"Remus" She spoke clearly "What on earth have you done? I've only just discharged you and you're right back" Her face was kind and her eyes soft.

Remus was saved the challenge of trying to explain himself by Sirius.

"It wasn't his fault you know! I was having an argument with my c...a Slytherin who was about to hex my butt off, and Remus disarmed him. Of course the Bastards got angry and this weasel of a boy shot a spell at him which sent him flying backwards and he cut his head" Sirius sounded angry, and it dawn on Remus that that had been the longest thing Sirius had said when he was around.

"Language Mr Black, and if what you say is true, I have to ask what three first year boys were doing out at this time of night and why you thought it would be a good idea to engage into an argument with older students from a different house" Her voice was hard, but she gave Remus a warm smile before leading him over to an empty bed.

"Don't move your head till I return" she instructed him before bustling off into her office "Oh, you boys can leave now" She called over to them from the doorway.

Peter began to move off, but Sirius brought his hand forward to hold him back.

"Were staying" Sirius said softly, then looked at James who nodded in agreement.

Remus didn't know whether to smile or feel daunted by the fact that they were going to watch Madam Pomfrey fix him up, so settled for not looking up at them.

She returned a few minutes later, two bottles of potion in her hands.

"Remus dear, this will sting a little, but it is just cleaning the wound of any infection" The smell was metallic and sharp, and when it touched his skin it burned, Remus recognised it from his transformation.

With a flick of her wand Madam Pomfrey healed the cut, and washed off the dried blood from around his collar.

"Drink this for the pain and take a small vial of the blood replenishing potion every five hours" Her voice was clipped and Remus knew that the instructions were meant for his injuries too.

Collecting her potion bottles and carrying them over to her desk on the far side of the room, Sirius suddenly spoke.

"Uh, can we leave now?"

"My, Mr Black you were never under any obligation to stay" She told him off handily whilst tiding her papers.

"You know what he means" James called over to her "Can Remus leave?"

"If he so wishes to, then I see no reason why not, though he must refrain from moving his head to much in case the cut ruptures" She smiled up at Remus who looked shocked that anyone was bothered or not about whether he had to stay in the hospital wing.

Peter pulled Remus to his feet, and the four of them began to walk out of the room in silence.

"Oh" Madam Pomfrey called before they stepped through the door "If any of you come to me because you have been hexed by someone or accidentally by yourself, I will make you wait outside for everyone to see you before treating you"

~o0O0o~

Remus's bed felt incredibly warm and fluffy around his tired aching limbs, the impact of hitting the wall last night had left his almost cured body in the arms of pain again.

Peeping over the edge of the covers, Remus saw the dorm room was lit with the clear crisp light of the morning sun, and that even though it was a Sunday morning, his dorm mates were nowhere to be seen.

Yawning loudly, Remus shrugged off his covers and padded over to the bathroom, his plain weekend muggle clothes draped over one arm.

Only when he was brushing his teeth did Remus realise that he had gone to bed with his hangings closed and woken up with them fully open and tied back.

He pondered this thought whilst he pulled on his brown corduroy trousers and buttoned up his shirt, did it have anything to do with the fact Sirius, James and Peter had risen way before their norm?

Blowing his pale brown hair from his eyes, Remus wandered back towards his bed and rummaged around in his trunk for a quill and black ink, he didn't feel like breakfast and he had promised to write his father to tell him how his first moon away from home had gone.

Just as he was signing off his letter with a flourish, Sirius and James wandered in laughing, a slightly red looking Peter followed.

"James as much as you try and deny it, you're smitten over Evans" Sirius laughed, causing his nose to crinkle up at the top.

"Shut it Black! I do not like Lilly Evans!" James's voice was whiney and he sounded annoyed, it looked as if he was just a few steps away from physical violence.

"When you get married, I'll be the first to say 'I told you so' suck on that Potter" Sirius cackled with gleeful mirth, but stopped abruptly as James smashed a pillow into his face.

Peter carefully stepped around the two boys as they began wrestling on the floor, and made his way over to Remus.

"Hi" Peter began awkwardly.

"Hello Peter" Remus tried a smile like he had done the first time that they had spoken.

"Thanks so much for last night, I don't think Sirius would have handled well otherwise, both of them looked like they were about to explode." Peter spoke quickly, but Remus could still find the relief in his voice from not being blown up by two angry underage wizards.

"It's fine honestly" Remus reassured him, still not quite sure why he had done it.

"Yeh, well I guess you're right, Sirius didn't want you to get hurt though. We were talking about it before we came to find you" Peter told him sullenly.

Remus felt his eyebrows shoot up, why would Sirius Black care if he was hurt or not? He had shown him no indifference or compassion, just ignored him.

Peter didn't seem to notice Remus's reaction and carried on regardless.

"James said Sirius felt bad about not talking to you cause of how lonely you looked and then you got Ill and he felt even worse apparently" Peter prattled on until he glanced up at Remus's face.

"Oh" Peter breathed before reddening, evidently he shouldn't have told anyone about that, especially not Remus.

Remus couldn't help but laugh as Peters expression, and the crisp sweetness of it shock him, Remus couldn't remember when he had last laughed.

Peter looked relieved that Remus wasn't angry about what he had just said and started laughing too, even if it did sound a little forced.

"What are you two ninnies laughing at?" James asked from the floor.

"Nothing" Remus chimed, sobering up quickly; he didn't want to get Peter into trouble.

"Your neck alright Remus?" Sirius asked him before bounding up from the floor and sitting on the end of Remus's bed.

"Yeh t-thank you" He answered meekly, Sirius still intimidated him a little and Remus felt his carefree courage he had felt with Peter flee back inside of him.

"Great, oh we brought you some bacon and toast; you looked really tired last night so we didn't want to wake this morning by being loud" Sirius plunged his hand into his robes pocket and pulled out a napkin wrapped bundle.

"Thanks" Remus knew Sirius was trying to make for ignoring him and being mean, and Remus had always believed in forgiveness so accepted the food gratefully.

Smiling, Sirius bounced off the bed and back on to James, who gave a gurgled protest as Sirius landed on him.

~o0O0o~

The cool morning sun soon turned to rain, and as James had stated loudly 'You can't go exploring the grounds if it's raining' which meant all four boys stayed in the dorm room, none of them willing to go down to the crowded common room.

Remus had pulled out his charms homework that was due the next week, and over the afternoon Peter had joined him and was now copying off Remus's work.

Sirius and James had spent the morning playing exploding snap and wizard chess, but after almost sending James's bed up in flames had retired to Sirius's bed were they were now working fervently over a piece of parchment, occasionally scribbling out what they had just written.

~o0O0o~

At dinner James insisted that Remus sit with the three of them instead of at the end of the long house table.

Remus kept his small smile on his lips all through the meal, hiding his happiness that he finally had someone to talk to and possibly be friends with.

When they returned to the dormitory, Sirius and James instantly fell onto the parchment like ravenous beasts; they hadn't told Peter what they were planning so he sat glumly on his own bed writing to his muggle mother.

Sitting on his own bed, Remus read his book silently, but it couldn't hold his attention like it normally would, he kept wondering what the two dark haired boys were up to.

After an hour of silence in the room, Sirius finally broke it with a loud grunt.

"James it's not going to work! You're so bad at charms it hurts" He shouted loudly before ripping the parchment from under James lanky hands and pushing the boy off of his bed.

Scrambling up from the floor, James threw himself at Sirius, sending both of them crashing into Remus's trunk, which shook the whole bed frame.

Stumbling over to Peters bed so as not to get caught up in the kerfuffle, Remus stopped to pick up the rumpled parchment the two boys had been working on, but before he could read any of it James crashed into his back sending him forward.

Before Remus collapsed onto Peter's bed, his foot met a discarded sock which sent him sliding underneath the bottom of James four-poster bed.

Remus lay there a little unsure as to how he had suddenly gone from upright to on his back underneath James bed which smelt like sweaty socks.

A deep silence filled the room, but was destroyed by Peter roaring laughter as he tried to stop snorting at the hilarity of what had just happened.

Remus began laughing too, it was a different kind of laughter than he was used to, almost hysterical, and it sounded childlike and innocent next to Peter's loud rosy laugh.

James and Sirius didn't laugh, they didn't know what was so funny so just stood there looking confused.

"Remus?" Sirius asked uncertainly, his eyes wide and his hair sticking up on one side.

Between the chuckles Peter managed to point at James's bed and stutter "U-u-under t-the b-b-b-bed" before another round of laughter took him.

Together they pushed James's bed from on top of Remus, and peered down at him.

Their confused faces made Remus giggle even more, and he clutched as his aching side as the laughter bubbled up inside of him.

Sirius pulled him up by his armpits and deposited him on top of James bed, then sat next to him.

Hiccupping slightly, Remus stifled his laughter but didn't look at Peter, who he knew would set him off again.

"You alright?" James asked him whilst he retrieved his unwashed clothes that Remus had pushed from under his bed.

Remus nodded then looked down at the crumpled parchment that had caused all of the activity.

A quick plan had been written in a neat scrawl across the page and a spell with lots of alterations had been written in the middle of the page, but had been covered mostly in scribbles and in one corner an angry face.

Furrowing his eyebrows Remus mouthed the spell out then asked Sirius for a quill.

A long elegant feather quill was placed in Remus's pale spindly hand, and he quickly made a small adjustment, and then wrote the spell out clearly at the bottom of the page.

"Nice plan, but you're right; James really is atrocious at charms work. It should work now though" Remus handed the rumpled creamy parchment back to Sirius who read it with a glowing face.

"Oh my god" Sirius breathed "I can't believe you figured that out in a minute, this is going to be the best prank Hogwarts has ever seen" He started jumping up and down and squealing like a girl before pushing it into James's hands.

"That's genius mate" James beamed down at him.

Remus let a large smile draw across his thin face; no one had ever been so appreciative of him, he let a small seed plant its self in his mind.

'_You might actually have friends now' _

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	5. Mr Black you Nutter

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><p>The days that past after that Sunday were the happiest Remus could ever remember.<p>

In fact he almost forgot the twinge of loneliness in the bright laughter filled days, but it crawled back sometimes when the darkness was close at hand and his mind off on a tangent of thought.

It filled his mind with all of his worries, all of his pain.

One thing being at Hogwarts hadn't made better was the aching hole in his heart that had been there since that night.

Little things had been reminding him of his reckless, pretty, clever mother, and every time they hit his heart like a fresh wound.

But little rays of light made him smile and laugh like he had never done at home; James and Sirius's attempts at perfecting the spell needed to complete their prank, Peter's evident clumsiness and inability to pass any potion class. Even just the kind greetings some of his fellow students gave him in the morning made him smile like it would no one else.

~o0O0o~

Snow drifted past the frosted glass lazily, forming a fluffy white build up of it on top of the outside window ledge.

Sirius, James and Peter stirred sleepily from the fluffy covers covering them, whilst Remus sat carefully on the edge of his bed pulling on the thick woollen grey socks James had given to him when he had seen the pitifully thin ones Remus owned.

Remus had been incredibly fortunate with his Transformations so far, because he always seemed to catch a cold just before it was the full moon, meaning his disappearances were put down to him being a fairly sickly child who seemed to catch everything and anything.

This moon had been particularly tough; the wolf had broken four of Remus's ribs and practically ripped his skin to shreds leaving it criss-crossed with angry red Scars.

He remembered waking up to Madam Pomfrey's grim face hovering above him, dabbing a foul smelling potion onto his face.

When she had seen his eyes open, her face had crumpled a little and she picked up a little wooden backed hand mirror.

"I'm sorry Remus" She had told him sadly "I can't get it to disappear"

Warily He had taken the small mirror and held it up to his face, thinking about it still made tears come to his eyes at the unfairness of it all.

A puckered scar ran down from just above his right eyebrow, along the side of his nose and ended half way across his cheek, hot tears had spilled from his eyes and his lips had trembled.

His face, the part of him that still looked whole and human, had been branded and taken away from him just like all the rest of his body.

Madam Pomfrey had held him close to her warm, whole body whilst he bawled loudly, comforting him with kind words and a few kisses on the top of his head.

Sniffing dejectedly, Remus wiped away the tears and carried on pulling his socks onto his feet.

Tucking his knees up against his chest, Remus leant against the wooden pillar that held up his bed curtains, and couldn't stop the tears from flowing from his brown eyes as he thought of the stares and whispers behind his back the other students would surely give.

Sirius woke first, his dark hair sticking to one side of his pale sleepy face.

He groaned then swung his legs off the end of his bed and practically hit James in the face as he fell over again.

"What the….?" James exclaimed as he was rudely awoken "Sirius you moron, I thought we agreed no waking me up in winter, it's too cold to get up early"

"We never did James; you just merely stated it and I chose to ignore you" Sirius told him indignantly before jumping on Peters bed, causing the podgy boy to cry out in panic.

Remus sat deathly still, hoping none of his friends would notice him and ask why he had gone into the hospital wing with a cold and come out a great big scar across his face.

He watched the three boys through his fringe with a bated breath, none of them had noticed him, Remus had been in the hospital wing for a week and they must have gotten used the fact he wasn't there in the mornings.

Eventually what he had been dreading happened.

"Remus!" Sirius had shouted happily before bounding over followed closely by Peter and James who both looked equally as glad to see him.

"it's about time you showed up, Sirius thought Madam Pomfrey was keeping you a prisoner" James joked loudly before patting him on his back and walking back over to his trunk to retrieve his bag of toiletries.

Peter started prattling on about what Remus had missed in class but Sirius stared at his face, his grey eyes narrowed.

Eyes wide, Remus breathed deeply through his nose praying that his fringe was thick enough to hide the ugly mark across his face.

"Remus, what's wrong" Sirius said carefully his eyes still narrow and a small frown on his handsome face.

"N-n-n-nothings wr-rong S-s-siri-u-us" Remus chocked on his words, his mouth was dry and terror bubbled in his stomach.

What happens if they figure out what I am because of this? He thought to himself before shivering, his father had warned him of the things the ministry did to unregistered dangerous werewolves; they beat them and whipped them with silver tipped weapons until the pain was too bad and they ended tearing their own throats out.

"You're lying" Sirius's voice was cold and accusing and it cut deeply into Remus, and his brain registered it as some sort of betrayal of their friendship for if they were truly friends why would Sirius be accusing him ?

Remus cowered away from him as tears pricked his eyes.

"I'm not" Remus said desperately, highly aware that Peter and James were staring at him.

"Yes you are, if you weren't you would be looking at me and you wouldn't be so bloody scared. What's wrong Remus?" Sirius's voice was softer and sincere but it still had an edge to it.

Remus was stressed and highly strung and he could do nothing to prevent the hot tears that fell down his cheeks and the shuddering breaths he gulped in.

"Remus, stop crying Sirius didn't mean to make you upset, it's not his fault he utterly pathetic at being sympathetic, it's what comes with being a Black" James told him calmly from across the room, a disapproving glare aimed at Sirius on his be-speckled face.

Sirius let out a little outraged grunt but didn't speak.

"I-i-i-it's not Sirius's f-f-fault" Remus managed to stutter whilst bringing his long hands up to wipe away the tears.

"Well what is wrong then?" Peter's face was sincere and confused as he spoke, and his rumpled pyjamas gave him a total look of innocence.

Carefully Remus lifted his head up, he realised he couldn't hide his face for the rest of his life so he might as well show them before they forced him to.

Pulling his head up to a dignified height, Remus stared into James eyes waiting to see the disgust or recognition of what Remus really was.

Instead his face fell in shock and his eyes widened beneath his glasses.

"Remus…What?…How?" James stuttered before resorting to pointing at Remus's face and opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

Peter was pretty much the same as James, only Sirius had retained the ability to talk.

"Remus, it's fine; I mean it's just a scar Madam Pomfrey can get rid of it straight away" Sirius told him, his voice almost pleading.

Biting down on his lip, Remus shook his head sending stray tears skittering across his face "S-s-s-she tried ev-v-ery thing she could think of"

Peter finally found his voice and offered a comforting hand on Remus's shoulder.

"Honestly I think it looks kind of cool, it reminds me of a crescent moon" His face was encouraging and Remus found himself laughing at what Peter had said.

It wasn't a hash or sarcastic laugh as he had expected to escape his lips, but a completely human sound that echoed oddly in the far most corners of the room.

Looking up Remus caught the relieved smiles on all three boys' expressions, and tried his own weak smile in return.

~o0O0o~

Remus sat huddled by a large tree, the castle to his back and James, Sirius and Peter playing a game of snowballs in front of him.

He watched as the balls of compacted snow soared through the air in a great arch before hitting their intended target with a force that shattered its shape and sent the snow spraying out in a glittering cloud.

He hated the cold, it bit at his fingers and made his head ache, but Remus had let his friends drag him down here as they thought it would cheer him up, and Remus hadn't wanted to tell that all he really wanted to do was read or possibly sleep.

"Remus come join us!" James shouted before a large chunk of snow hit the back of his neck, making him squeal like a small child.

Snorting with laughter Remus watched as an outraged James levitated a pile of snow above Sirius as he gathered ammunition.

Someone just behind him made Remus cut short his laughter and turn around in confusion at the arrival of an unwanted party in his friend's fun.

"I'm glad you haven't reduced yourself to their idiotic level" Lilly said coolly whilst looking down at three boys in irritation.

"Hello Lilly, how are you?" Remus asked her politely a cheery smile on his lips.

"I'm grand thank you, are you alright though? I can see your face and it looks quite bad but it will be fixed in no time, especially if Madam Pomfrey has anything to do with it." Lilly was still glaring a little at the forms of Sirius, James and Peter as they rolled around in the snow fighting, but her body was twisted towards Remus.

"I'm fine Lilly, thank you for asking though" Remus felt awkward talking to Lilly like it was a formal dinner but he couldn't seem to click into his effortless flow of speech like with his friends.

"If you say so, I think it's a little careless of your friends to drag you out into the cold after you have just got over a bad flu" She shook her head slowly then sat down next to him.

"It must be dreadful getting Ill all the time and not having your Mum or Dad around to look after you" She told him absently before digging into her pocket and pulling out a small chocolate bar.

"I'm used to it" Remus told her sadly as he picked at the frayed end of one of his gloves, he felt safe talking to Lilly about this, his extra senses told him she could be trusted.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked confusedly as she ate the creamy chocolate.

Breathing in deeply, Remus readied himself to talk about the things he had kept hidden for so long; it hurt a little to think about it but maybe telling someone would be good for him.

"My Mother died when I was four and my Father is always at work or too busy to bother with me" It wasn't really a lie, yes His father did tend him after his transformations but any other time he barely batted an eyelid at Remus.

"Oh...I'm sorry Remus" Lilly mumbled softly before pulling him into a one armed hug and handing him the last block of chocolate.

"It's okay, I was too young to realise what was happening, but I do still remember lots about her. Like how she would make little presents for me every full moon, calling them luck gifts and the Luna magic would keep me safe. How her dark hair fell around her face in crazy waves and how she would read stories to me" Remus smiled a little bit as he remembered his mother through his mix matched memories of her.

Suddenly Remus's safe time to talk about what had been haunting him for years was gone; Sirius had bounded up towards him, his silky hair matted with slushy snow.

"Evans what are you doing here?" He asked her distastefully, a scowl on his aristocratic face.

"Talking to Remus, is that a crime now?" Lilly retorted, her voice crisp with anger at being accused of nothing.

"Well whatever" Sirius waved her off before rounding on Remus "Remy guess what! I finally figured out what to do to complete our spectacular project" His face was glowing with excitement and childish glee.

"That's brilliant Sirius, but did you just call me 'Remy'?" Remus asked him a, little bewildered at the sudden new nickname that had been pounced upon him.

"Yep, REMY REMY REMY" He shouted happily before running back down to join in the fight.

Lilly had a mingle of shock and confusion on her face, and Remus couldn't blame her.

"That boy is cracked" she told him a cruel laugh in her usually kind voice.

"Don't be hard on him; it's probably too much impact on his soft head" Remus chuckled a little at Sirius's odd behaviour, but Lilly just raised her eyebrow before wandering back towards the warm castle.

~o0O0o~

Remus didn't feel up to sitting in the hall and enduring all the stares that were sure to come his way, so all four of them traipsed back up to the common room with the promise of breaking into Peters sweet horde.

Sirius had kept a horrified expression on his face since he realised what he had called Remus then shouted out to all the grounds, though James had thought it incredibly funny Sirius clearly had not.

Soon James started to sing a song to Sirius's embarrassment and a little to Remus's, It consisted of 'Remy' and 'Siri' being sung over and over again to different tunes depending on how James was feeling.

Finally loosing it when James launched in to a mournful rendition of the death march coupled with their names, Sirius flicked his transfiguration book at James before storming off into the bathroom to have a shower.

"I've been waiting for him do to something for me to take out on him" James chuckled glee fully, his face full of mischievous excitement.

Peter grinned before shoving another bar of Honeydukes finest milk chocolate down his throat and falling on top of his bed with a creaking of springs.

Folding himself carefully on top of the neat covers, Remus pulled a dusty volume that he had found in the library onto his crossed legs and started to read.

~o0O0o~

The dull pages of the old book soon blurred together as Remus felt his eyes droop and his body sag into sleep.

It only seemed like a second before he was rudely awakened by James cussing loudly and the glaring light from the inside of the bathroom.

"Bloody hell, what's he done?" Peter exclaimed before bending down and picking up a small snail the colour of ink.

"It's going to be murder trying to get Pomfrey to fix him; I mean he could have chosen a better animal like a lion or a wolf" James mused a slight whinge in his voice.

Remus listened to the conversation a little confused in his newly awoken state, but it was made worse when Sirius crept over to him from behind the large wardrobe that was shared between the whole dormitory.

"Don't tell them I am here, I can't wait to see James face" Sirius whispered before crawling under Remus's bed.

James stumbled back out of the bathroom with the small snail perched on his hand, his hair ruffled and an exasperated expression on his drawn face.

"James what's happened?" Remus asked him trying to fain surprise at what was happening before him, even though he had a pretty good idea what was going on in Sirius's mind.

"I think Sirius has turned himself into a snail" He replied blankly.

"How do you think he did it?" Peter asked Remus before peering at the snail's little face.

"Well I have read about some wizards who when they got really angry, all their power kind of implodes and if they are lucky they normally end up as a statue or an animal, some never regain their human form" Remus related to them, he had actually read something about that happening but he knew it was very rare .

James paled then sat down heavily on the floor.

"This is my fault isn't it?" James cried dismayed, he squinted at the small snail trying to see some part that looked like Sirius.

Whilst this had been happening Remus had watched Sirius carefully crawl over to his bed and hide in the shadows ready to pounce at any time.

"JAMMY!" Sirius shouted before leaping on top of James's back and clinging on as he shrieked in shock.

"Sirius you nutter, what the hell made you think it would be funny to trick us into thinking you had turned into a snail?" James shouted angrily before a horrified look crawled across his face.

Sirius laughed as the comprehension dawned on James.

"Shouldn't leave your letters lying around Jammy" Sirius gloated with a wink before leaping over Peters bed and scrambling down the stairs to the common room

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	6. Socks can walk and Creatures invade

**I am soooo tired! sorry if there are screaming mistakes :S**

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><p>After a few fiascos that had involved Peter sprouting lots of slimy, sucker covered tentacles, Sirius and James were confident the spell they need to complete their grand prank was ready for public use.<p>

Remus had sat in the corner of the room when these trials were going on, eager not to be turned into a human-octopus hybrid but still close enough to reverse the more mind boggling things that seemed to happen to the three boys as they took it in turns to be tested to see who could pull the spell off best.

By the end of three weeks testing it was deduced that Remus seemed to be the only one able to charm the small octopus into doing what was required.

Hardly daring to ask where James had found the baby octopus, Remus had learnt through sitting at the back of the conversations that it had originally been a pair of James more potent smelling socks that, at first glance, seemed to have sprouted little legs.

Remus found he was even more unwilling to ask how a pair of perfectly ordinary socks had gained the ability to grow feet, than to ask how James and Sirius had managed to transfigure something so complex after only a few months at the Wizarding School.

As much as Remus wanted to decline the offer of helping with the prank and keeping his already scar covered nose out of trouble, when he thought about the prospect of pulling off the prank a short exhilarated thrill ran through him that he couldn't quite explain away.

~o0O0o~

The morning of the first Wednesday of December bloomed from behind the clouds with a rosy tint in the sun's rays, almost as if it was about to relish in the mayhem also.

"James, come on Remus put the charm on this damn thing last night all we need to do is plant it in the great hall and wait for the right moment" Sirius hissed from behind a pillar on the second floor. James stood looking at a portly man in an old painting pick his nose idly before shrugging and wiping it on his velvet waist coat.

"Eww" James mumbled as his nose wrinkled up in disgust "You would think the portraits would be better behaved" he mumbled before walking over to Sirius.

"Yeh well, you didn't have to watch him did you? Now get your skinny butt over here and help me" Sirius hissed again.

Rolling his eyes, James walked over to Sirius, his wand held ready in his hand and a manic grin of his face.

~o0O0o~

When Remus woke Sirius was sitting up fully dressed and eager, his face resembling the look a puppy normally has when the prospect of playing with its favourite toy is before his eyes.

"I take it you weren't caught then?" Remus asked him tiredly, a small yawn escaping his lips.

"It's going to be amazing!" Sirius replied, a large smile covering his usually composed face and his silky hair ruffled in a way that was very like James's.

"Mmhhm" Remus mumbled in agreement before closing the bathroom door and turning on the sink tap to wash the sleep from his eyes.

By the time Remus had finished in the bathroom James and Peter had joined Sirius and all three of them were discussing the prank that was soon going to be unleashed on the great hall and all the breakfasting students.

"I can't wait!" Sirius was nearly exploding in his excitement at seeing his brain child come into action.

"We know Sirius" Remus answered exasperated "Don't act suspicious though or everyone will know it was us, or more particularly you"

Remus hated being the one to pour a bucket of ice cold water over Sirius's mind, but he knew if they wanted to remain uncaught someone had to, and it didn't look like it would be James or peter anytime soon.

"I suppose you're right Lupin" Sirius grunted glumly before jumping up to get ready to go to breakfast.

The hall was teaming with people when they arrived and Remus couldn't help but notice the wide grin on Sirius's face and the mischievous glint in his eyes.

Shooting a warning glare at him made no difference, so Remus was forced to jam one of his elbows into Sirius's side, causing the boy to stumble a little as the air was knocked out of him.

"Merlin Remus, sorry I'll behave from now on" He gasped as he rubbed his side, Remus realised it would probably leave a small bruise but that was a better price to pay than to be in detention for a month.

After what seemed to be a millennia of Sirius's twitching and fidgeting James finally gave the signal to begin.

With a subtle swish of his wand James muttered the spell he had been practicing for weeks and the transfigured octopus slowly began to swell up and rise from the small alcove Sirius had planted it in.

It took a few minutes before it was big enough for people to start noticing it and soon the hall was filled with startled shrieks and screams as the bright purple octopus loomed over them.

When it had filled the vast doorway the creature stopped and thick, sticky goo began to ooze out of it. Remus knew that it was strictly not correct in how an octopus worked but he couldn't help but admire his handy work as the thick liquid began to engulf the end of the house tables nearest to the doorway.

McGonagall rushed forwards urging the students to move to the far side of the hall whilst she tried to figure a way to get rid of both the octopus and the goo, and Sirius grabbed James's arm to pull him on top of the table as the goo swelled up around them.

Remus nimbly jumped atop the house table too and helped haul Peter up to join them. Many of the other students were copying their action and jumping onto the table, some with too much force that they almost lost their balance and others who placed a foot in the wrong place and were sent flying face first into the thick mucus.

Glancing up quickly, Remus saw Professor Dumbledore gaze down on the hall from the teachers table, a small amused smile on his face as he rested it carefully on his interlocked hands.

Spinning round to grin at James and Peter, Remus collided with Lilly as she tried to run up the table and over to the goo free section of the hall. As Lilly lost her balance she grabbed Remus for support but ended up dragging him down into the river of octopus mucus as well.

Spluttering and coughing he pulled himself upright but was already covered from head to toe in the stuff so didn't feel it would hurt if he pulled Lilly back out as well.

James and Sirius were doubled over with laughter as Remus waded over to the table but didn't bother to get back up considering he might fall back in.

"Shut it you two, I could easily pull both you in here too" He practically growled before flicking some of the slimy stuff onto Sirius's clean school robes.

Before a full scale goo battle could break out professor McGonagall's voice rang out.

"Calm down everyone!" She shouted before flicking her wand at the gigantic octopus as it turned back into a pair of smelly socks once more and the goo disappeared. No one but Remus and Sirius saw the socks scuttle away into the dark corners of the hall and climb up the wall.

"Get to class now everyone, we will find out who is responsible for this" McGonagall glared at two seventh years at the end of the Gryffindor table who had been throwing goo at each other in a strange version of snowballs.

Fuming a little she walked back along the walkway between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, she glanced at Lilly and Remus before muttering and waving her wand at them and walking on as the mucus was removed.

"Truly Brilliant Lupin" James smiled happily as they left the hall and made their way to the defence against the dark arts room where the young Professor Cove taught his lessons.

"To be honest it was all your work, I just added a little bit to it" Remus answered meekly before walking past Professor Cove and taking his seat at the back of the room. The other three boys followed him and sat down too, Peter next to Remus and Sirius and James in front.

Remus found Professor Cove's teaching methods slightly dull, and when he realised he already knew word for word the Professor's lecture lesson from one of the text book he had read, Remus let himself half day dream.

Through all the excitement of the Prank coming together and his homework, Remus had almost forgotten the waxing moon that meant his transformation was due in four days.

He wondered how he would explain his absence to his friends, he couldn't blame it on an illness this time as he hadn't been brought down with a sudden aliment, and he reckoned that Sirius suspected more than he was letting on. Remus still couldn't understand why his three friends hadn't pressed the subject of his scar when he so clearly seen curiousness burning in all three of their eyes.

Professor Cove's voice brought Remus back to the real world.

"Mr Lupin, I don't believe you have been listening to my lesson which is very disappointing as it seems you have a real flare for defence against the dark arts, would you like to name a disarming spell and what it does?" The young Professor's voice was firm and disappointment rung sharply around it.

"Expelliarmus, it is a basic defensive spell that causes your opponents wand to fly out of his or her hand, you opponent is then disarmed" Remus answered him a small blush on his cheeks at being caught daydreaming.

"Very good Mr Lupin, I advise you not to drift away again if you please" With that Professor Cove swept back towards the front desk to continue his lecture.

Sirius and James spun around to look at Remus as he quickly began scribbling down notes that he didn't really need.

"Good old Remus can't catch him out with trick questions even when he isn't paying attention" Sirius elbowed James good naturedly as he said it.

"Yeh, there's genius in there that won't be locked away" James laughed before turning around as the young teacher clucked angrily at the disturbance in his class.

~o0O0o~

The potions room was damp and the smell of it always burned in Remus's sensitive nose. To be honest Remus hated potions, he just didn't have that certain knack at like others seemed to have. He always wondered why when his mother had been such an accomplished potion master.

"Right class" Slughorn called cheerily as he entered the room, his protruding stomach crossing the threshold before his head "We will be trying to create a passable potion for the curing of boils as I feel that last week's work was unsatisfactory"

Sirius smirked at that comment as he knew too well that the comment was aimed at Remus and Peter who had been paired together, and thus failed miserably, though as Peter had pointed out, they had only exploded three cauldrons that time.

"Don't worry Lupin; I'll help you get a passable potion" Sirius told him helpfully as he dragged him to farthest desk behind James and Peter.

The lesson passed fairly well with only one little mishap that was soon corrected by a relieved Slughorn, but it soon came to the part of the brewing were it required constant supervision, this was normally were Remus failed as his brain began to wander in the long period of time required to watch the potion.

"Erm Sirius, I think you better take over now, I never have enough patience when it comes to potions" Remus told him quietly as he switched seats so Sirius could get to the bubbling potion better.

"Sure Remus" Sirius sprang towards the potion and began mixing in the powered root Remus had forgotten about.

After a few minutes of silence a loud rap on the room's door caused every head to twist round to see who it was.

"Come on in" Slughorn shouted jovially from the front of the room where he was helping a small girl with plats correct her potion.

Professor McGonagall glared in at the first year students before her eyes settled on James, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Sorry to disturb you Horace, but could Mr Potter and Mr Black please come with me?" McGonagall's voice was steely and a manic glint was in her eye.

"Of course Minerva, they can come back later to complete their potions if Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew haven't caused them to combust by the time they come back" Professor Slughorn herded the two boys out with a chuckle.

Remus looked at Peter in horror; he was never going to manage to get the potion right without any help.

~o0O0o~

Sitting awkwardly on the window sill in the dormitory, Remus tried to get rid of the potion stains and the scorched edges on his School robes, after the departure of Sirius and James Peter and he had somehow managed to explode their potion on all the students for a distance of three meters in concentrated boil potion. What puzzled Remus the most was that he was sure he hadn't done anything to the potion that could have made it combust so.

Peter's robes hadn't done much better, but the rather large boy didn't seem to mind, he just brushed off the burnt bits and carried on.

At almost 10 o'clock Sirius and James trudged in, a disgruntled look in each of their faces.

"Where have you been?" Peter asked from where he lay on his bed, his charms essay spread about him in a disorderly fashion.

"Dumbly and McGonagall found out we were responsible for the prank cause Filch's damn cat caught the socks we used, and of course little James had had his name lovingly stitched into it and they figured it had to be the both of us" Sirius moaned before flopping down on his bed and burying his face in his pillow.

"And then we had 30 points taken from each of us and a month's worth of detentions that were to be begin straight away" James carried on as he pulled of his socks "So we went down to Slughorn to remake that stupid potion to prove we could do it, then had to go straight to our bloody detention"

"It's called being secretive, and personally I think you all need to perfect that first" Remus told them levelly before closing his curtains to the sarcastic mumbles of Sirius.

Slowly Remus let his body sink into the soft mattress and finally felt the twinges of aching muscles and stiff limbs.

His mind wandered to the full moon before he fell into a slightly restless sleep.


	7. True friendship can be strange

**Hey lovely people :)**

**hope you enjoy this chapter, I am looking forward to the next chapter, it's gonna be Sirius's point of view and then at the end a little teaser of Remus to drag you into the next chapter, so excited to write it : )**

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><p>Picking lightly at the plate covered in sausages, Remus glanced thoughtfully at the the front page of James's old Newspaper from the day before, normally the Daily prophet held no interest, and it was much the same as it had always been, covered in a ridiculous photo of some stuck up wizard or witch as they received an award of some sort.<p>

"Remus, what's going on in that fluffy cloud of a brain of yours? You look completely out of it" James chirped in loudly from behind his paper, his brown eyes just visible over the thin creamy coloured parchment.

"Oh um, nothing, nothing really" Remus told him a little breathlessly before resting his head on his hands again and letting his mind wander.

James and Sirius shot a quick glance between themselves and both looked at Remus, he seemed almost the same as ever, except for the dark circles forming under his eyes and the slight paleness to his skin.

"Yeh, whatever you say Rem" Sirius smiled before shaking his head a little at Remus's dazed expression.

Peter flopped next to James, his blonde hair sticking to one side and his shirt buttoned up wrong.

"Hey what's up with Remus?" He asked James when the slightly smaller boy didn't move or react to the sudden appearance of one of his friends.

"Beats me, he's been distant all morning, that stupid glazed expression on his face doesn't help to be honest, makes him look a tiddy bit loony" James answered before his eyes wandered a little bit further down the house table.

The arrival of the morning post didn't stir Remus from his daydream, only when a large tawny owl clattered down on his plate did he jerk back in shock.

"What the...Norma what are you doing here?" He asked the owl quietly as he stroked her feathers and untied the letter from her leg.

"Remus, I don't think owls speak" Sirius smirked at him, his parents never sent Sirius letters or little packages of goodies like James and Peter's did.

Shooting Sirius a withering glare, Remus slid his thumb under the tacked enveloped seal and pulled out a square of crisp parchment.

James and Sirius watched Remus's eyes dart across the page, and a blank expression fell upon his face, but anger burned in his hazel eyes. Standing up abruptly, Remus crunched the letter up in his fist and stalked out of the hall.

His friends eyes followed his retreating form in shock, Remus never got properly angry over anything.

~o0O0o~

Shaking a little, Remus stormed past the rest of the Gryffindor population that was still in the common room, and up to his dorm room.

"Stupid Grandmother, I always knew she hated me" He muttered darkly before throwing himself on top of his neatly made bed.

He squeezed his eyes tight so the angry tears wouldn't escape; the words his Grandmother had written were playing through his mind.

_**Dear Mr Remus J Lupin,**_

_**You are not invited to the funeral of Albert H Lupin, at 2pm Friday 22**__**nd**__** of November.**_

_**The formal after-dinner is for close family and friends, a place at one the tables have not been reserved for you.**_

_**Sincerely**_

_**Clarabella Winter-Lupin.**_

Remus gritted his teeth at the hatred towards his Grandmother, she had hated him since that night, refusing to go near him and calling him a dirty, savage beast when he could still hear, and now she was refusing to let him go to his own Grandfather's funeral.

She had also worked out a way to prevent his father from taking him as his plus one guest; she had set it on the day after the full moon.

Trying desperately to remember his Grandfather, Remus realised he hadn't seen him since he was eight and he had snuck out of the house to go and play with him whilst his Grandmother was in the sitting room.

"Remus?" Sirius's voice floated over from the doorway, and the sound of shuffling feet indicated he wasn't alone.

"What?" Remus growled as he spun around to face them, bringing his arm smashing into the collection of small trinkets on his bedside table, knocking them off with a crash as they shattered across the floor.

"Oh oh" Remus squeaked as he looked down at the broken remains of his favourite picture of his mother and the small glass clock his father had given to him so he could remember her better.

"Merlin Remus" James cried as Remus slid to floor the shattered glass all around him, and his head in hands.

James and Peter rushed forward to help him up from the floor and onto the bed whilst Sirius tried to repair the broken objects that littered the ground.

"What's wrong with you today?" James asked him seriously, his glasses askew and a little bit of jam on his cheek.

"Sorry, sorry it's just…well look yourselves if you must" Remus sighed heavily and opened his pale hand to expose the crunched up paper.

"Gosh, that's your Nan right?" James asked Remus shocked "What an old evil cow she seems, I mean Sirius's parents aren't the bees knees but they would never do something like this"

Sirius grabbed the letter from James lax hand and read through it twice before speaking "What you going to do then" he asked him, one of his eyebrows raised.

Suddenly as much as it repulsed him to use his Grandfather's death as an excuse to hide his condition, it seemed the best thing that would come his way in the next few days so he grasped it with both hands.

"I'm going to go; I'll write my father asking if he will take me as his guest, then she can't complain" Remus told his friends confidently and matter-of-factly.

James and Sirius smiled sadly down at him, but Peter managed to pick a hole in his great plan.

"Umm, Remus won't your dad be taking your mum though?" Peter asked him from where he sat on the end of Sirius's bed.

Deflating, Remus looked down at his hands, he had forgotten that he hadn't told them about his mother, and was about to answer him when Sirius threw a Bertie Botts every flavour bean at Peters head.

"Pettigrew you are so dense, you know Remus's Mum's dead" Sirius shot him a scathing look before turning back towards Remus, the broken picture frame mostly fixed in his hands.

"What? How do you know that?" Remus asked incredulously, he was sure he had never told anyone except Lily about his mother.

"Uh, well we kind of figured it out, I mean no one else has a really old picture of their mum next to their bed, and you never mentioned her, just your dad" James told him blushing a little.

Remus stared at his friends, he hadn't realised they were so observant or picked up on so much, he was about to say something when the glass clock that was now chipped and scratched caught his eye.

"Merlin's pants were late for Transfiguration!" He cried before scrambling up and dashing out of the room.

~o0O0o~

McGonagall gave them a stern warning but refrained from giving them detention as she was busy that evening with the N.E.W.T students practice papers.

They sat at the back desks that were unoccupied and prepared to listen, kind of, to their Professor.

"Right, I am fully aware that you are all first years and not quite advanced in this field as most, but I do believe you are all capable of transfiguring a larger creature such as a mouse into something such as a teaspoon, you are my best class so far this year, let's see if you can live up to your own standards" McGonagall's voice was crisp and stern like always, and when she walked past the row the four boys were sitting on, she passed the mice across to them without a word.

James picked his wriggling mouse up so it was wedged between his thumb and forefinger, it squeaked indignantly before leaping up, causing James to grab its tail as it hung suspended in the air.

"Ha ha, stupid mice" Sirius laughed as he prodded his barely awake rodent with the end of his wand, causing it to turn a sliver colour but nothing else.

Peter's mouse had run away from him and was now somewhere near the front row by the sound of girls screaming as it scuttled up their legs.

Staring down into the hard little eyes of the grey mouse, Remus gingerly inched his finger forward till it was nearly touching the soft grey fur.

Before his nail could touch the small animal, it spun around and sank its sharp little teeth into his finger, and as he cried out the small rodent scampered into a discarded goblet left over from a former class.

Remus sucked his finger as Sirius snorted in laughter at him; his long silky hair was tied back with a little bit of string he had found on the floor in their dorm and it made his cheek bones stand out.

"Shut it Black, I think it might have given me rabies or something" Remus's comment just made Sirius laugh even more, and when Remus rolled his eyes Sirius collapsed on to the floor and breathed heavily though his silent laughter.

"Mr Black, get up this instant" Professor McGonagall called shrilly from the front of the room.

"S-s-sorry Professor, just Remus was making me laugh" Sirius told her amid stray chuckles and giggles.

"Well if that is so, then Mr Lupin please will you stay you behind so I can talk to you about causing disturbances in my class" The Transfiguration Professor said coolly before picking up Remus's agitated mouse and depositing it in front of him again.

"Sorry Rem, I didn't she would take it out on you, you aren't upset are you? I know you hate getting into trouble" Sirius grimaced apologetically as his sleepy mouse cracked open an eye and began to crawl under some stray sheets of parchment.

"M'okay Sirius, I know you didn't mean to get me in trouble" Remus told him reassuringly before biting his lip, he had never gotten in trouble with Professor McGonagall but he knew she was harsh with her punishments, Sirius and James could prove that.

"Well, I'm sorry still, hopefully she won't be harsh, she likes you; probably make you sort her books or something" Sirius told him helpfully before patting him awkwardly on his shoulder.

"Yeh" Remus mused before looking down at his mouse and pointing his wand at it determined to make it up to his Professor with exceptional work.

The lesson past quickly and soon Remus found himself standing next to Professor McGonagall's desk, his three friends shooting apologetic glances as they left through the door to go down to lunch.

"Remus, follow me please" McGonagall told him politely before sweeping over to the wooden side door that led into the pokey office that belonged to the room. It was nothing like her main office on the floor above which was round and cheery, this room looked like it should be a cupboard.

Two plain wooden chairs were in the room, one wedged behind an ink blotched desk and the other by a stout bookcase that lent to one side; it held no books and looked dangerously unstable. No windows graced the wall, and Remus saw a small glass ball full of luminous clouds was providing the light.

"I am sorry we have to use this room, I rarely come in here, but I felt our conversation should be more private, I do not wish for someone, nameable Mr. Black or Mr. Potter, to enter whilst we are talking" She told Remus an indifferent expression on her slightly lined face, she had squeezed behind the desk and was indicating he sit as well.

"Excuse me Professor, I don't quite understand" Remus told her meekly as he took the seat offered to him. Remus was sure it wouldn't matter if someone came in whilst she was talking to him about making disturbances in her class.

"I must admit that I may have had an anterior motive when I asked you to stay behind my class. What I really wish to talk to you about is your friendship with Mr. Black, Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew" McGonagall told him kindly.

"W-w-what about it?" Remus asked nervously as he started to wring his hands in his lap.

"Well for one thing your grades have dropped a little, their influence might not be the best for you, but mainly how your friendship may cause some difficulties in hiding your condition" A small ink stain on the desk that looked oddly like a black dog held Remus line of sight whilst she spoke to him.

"You will have to be very careful with your excuses, you cannot rely on illnesses all the time, have you considered a permanent excuse like an illness in your family? As much as I know how insensitive this is, but have you considered using your Mother as an excuse?" McGonagall asked him, a sad smile on her face.

"Um, well I am afraid that I can't use my mother, they already know she is dead. But I will consider making up a more permanent excuse" Remus told her quietly before looking at her imploringly silently begging her to let him go.

"Very well Mr. Lupin, you may go, but please keep in mind what I said. As much as I hate to say it your friends are very bright and it might not take much for them to suspect you" She told him solemnly before walking over to the door and holding it open for him.

Walking hurriedly, Remus crossed that classroom with his head bent downwards and his hands clutching the strap of his satchel. He really would have to come up with a more plausible excuse if he wanted to keep his friends in the dark to his condition.

"Hey Remus, what she say?" Sirius asked him as he rounded the corner of the door and out onto the corridor.

"She didn't say much, just that if I spend too much time with you lot my grades might suffer" Remus told him a small smile on his face. He still wasn't quite sure if he should joke about their friendship; to be honest he still wasn't quite sure if they were truly friends yet.

Sirius spluttered a little then laughed "Old bat doesn't know what she's saying, we are perfectly amiable company"

"Yeh, we'll never drag you astray" James laughed before he winked and started off down the corridor.

Remus followed his friends happily; Sirius loped along beside him whilst Peter trotted just behind James who was striding along quickly.

Finally dropping down on the bench at Gryffindor table James started shovelling food onto his plate, the other two boys following suit quickly, but Remus felt his appetite flee him as he looked at the Sheppard's pie and carrots on offer.

"Ws'Shup Remos" Sirius asked him with his cheeks bulging as he chewed the hot food.

"I'm not hungry, in fact I feel a little sick" Remus told him unhelpfully before taking a tentative sip at the pumpkin juice in his goblet.

Sirius frowned at him before scanning his eyes along the table, eventually something caught his eye and he leant over two outraged second years to grab a plate of sticky chocolate cake.

"Neber too 'ick to pass 'ocolate cake" Sirius told him with a grin covered in mash potato as he placed the cake in front of Remus.

Smiling gratefully at Sirius, Remus grabbed his spoon and began to eat the hot, sticky cake. The warm aroma of the chocolate made his senses smile and his mouth water. As much as Remus hated to admit it, he might possibly have a slight addiction to the smooth milky sweetness that was chocolate.

~o0O0o~

Herbology was an interesting lesson, it was taught in the greenhouses on the grounds just to the left of the main doorway into the castle. Remus quite liked his lessons there, a lesser chance of getting into trouble with James and Sirius was to be had as the class was usually assigned a fairly time consuming and possibly dangerous exercise.

The Gryffindor first years shared this class the Slytherin first years, so arguments were a fairly common occurrence. It made Remus cringe when he realised it was normally his friends who began the arguments.

Professor Sprout, a slight rotund and cherry woman, handed the boys a pair pink fluffy earmuffs each as they entered the greenhouse.

"Right chaps; today we'll be re-potting the Mandrakes I've had growing for a few weeks. You will need to put these earmuffs on' she told them before snapping them over her ears 'It is imperative you do this, I don't want any of you passing out in my lesson" she finished her sentence loudly as she indicated they do the same as her.

Remus put his earmuffs on and the sound of the room was instantly blocked out and replaced by a stifling silence, turning towards Sirius, Remus laughed silently at how idiotic his friends looked, they reminded him of stuffed toy elephants he had once seen in a Muggles toy shop.

"You look just as stupid as me" Sirius mouthed before giving into silent giggles of his own. James and Peter were also laughing and when their heads dipped Remus was given a clear view of a group of Slytherins who were snickering and mouthing derogatory comments their way.

Quick a flash Remus found all the humour gone and his face fell into a hard line as he turned to work on his mandrake root.

Remus felt James hand on his shoulder so turned to face him. "What's up?" James mouthed at him; his eyebrows set at a quizzical position on his forehead.

Not answering, Remus looked over at the group of first years indicating James follow his gaze. A fouls faced boy with cropped mousy hair began to say something, and Remus who had just found out that he seemed to have a talent at lip reading, caught what the boy said.

"Half-blood isn't he? I bet his blood is as dirty as his muggle born Mother's" The boy mouthed to his friends before they fell back in peels of cruel laughter. Severus Snape was with them, which was odd as he usually worked with Lilly, Remus wondered if they had fallen out over something.

James had evidently seen the conversation too, because he elbowed Sirius and pointed towards the four Slytherins. Sirius scowled then grinned, the pure blackness that seemed to emanate from him made his eyes twinkle and his lips curl up, Remus shuddered at how evil it made him look.

Peter looked up in bewilderment as the two boys started to skirt over to the small group from behind so they wouldn't be seen. Standing behind them, one hand above each person's head, they looked at each other as James counted down "Three…two…one…GO" Like lightening they had ripped the earmuffs off of the heads of the Slytherins.

The four first years crumpled to the floor, Snape's greasy haired head landing in a pile of compost while the foul faced boy fell on top of him. Whooping silently, James and Sirius high-fived each other before an angry Professor Sprout grabbed their school robes and hauled them from the green house.

"What was that about?" Peter mouthed at Remus, who was trying not to smile at what had just happened.

"Dunno" Remus shrugged before leaning over his mandrake and treating it to a happy grin, he had friends, real friends who would stand up for him.

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><p><strong>And now is the time to click the review button, I am shameless, I know :)<strong>

**HAZEL X**


	8. Sirius

**Hello :) **

**this is**** a longer chapter than usual and written in Sirius's point of view and after the section is cut off it Remus for the last bit.**

**I would love**** it if you could review, plus what you think about 'Sirius' in the Remus bit.**

**enjoy Hazel X****  
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><p>Cool light spilled into the round dorm room from the three windows that were about two feet into the thick stone wall of the tower. It was snowing again, which as James had complained loudly the night before, probably meant they would all be sitting in the chilly air when the next Quidditch match came about.<p>

Squeezing his eyes shut and trying to burrow deeper into his warm duvet, Sirius sighed contentedly and thanked which ever god had decided it was time for a Black to break tradition. He loved it up in the Gryffindor tower, and it made him smile even more when he had realised that his own dorm was right at the top of it, no wonder they had a separate little staircase after you past through the door.

Turning over onto his side and bringing up his legs closer to him to preserve heat, Sirius let his sleepy mind process the things he would be required to do that day. Yeh, he had to do the normal things like take a piss and shower, but something was nagging at the back of his mind and he couldn't quite place it.

He was sure he had done all of his homework, well most of it anyway, so that couldn't be it. It wasn't Monday so he didn't need to write to mother, not that he did that anyway, so he just left the niggling feeling to its own devices.

Becoming aware of the uncomfortable pressure on his bladder, Sirius groaned and crossed his legs, but it was no use, he would have to rip himself from the addictive warmth that was his bed and plunge into the cold air of the on-suite bathroom. Sirius hadn't really noticed before, like lots of things he hadn't seemed to have noticed, but their dorm room was the only one in the boy's side of the tower that had an on-suite, everyone else had to share the communal bathroom on the bottom level adjacent to the common room.

Sirius had a sneaky suspicion that they only had this room because of Remus, but that was a stupid thought because Remus was just the same as everyone else, a little bit eccentric and susceptible to illness, but nothing else. Taking a deep breath in, he pulled back the covers and spluttered a little at how cold the air was against his skin.

He moaned a little bit as the urge to relieve himself grew, knowing Remus was probably watching him in amusement Sirius quickly glanced to the bed of his dorm mate. Frowning when he realised Remus wasn't sitting at the end of his bed as usual, Sirius let his eyes stray for longer before rushing into the bathroom. Remus was still asleep; curled up into the foetal position like he did all the time.

Sighing happily, Sirius turned the shower on began to muse over why the early rising Remus was still asleep. Normally Sirius was one of the last to rise, and he knew if the heated water hadn't been magic, it would have run out long before his turn to shower came around. Squirting some foul smelling shampoo he had stolen from James onto his head, Sirius suddenly hit the nagging at the back of his mind with a hammer.

Today was Thursday, the day Remus left to go home so he could go to the funeral of his grandfather that his grandmother expressly forbade him to go to.

"Aww damn" He whined, he had forgotten, Remus had probably been up all night worrying about what his grandmother would say to him when he showed up, unannounced and unwanted. Swearing even more as he accidentally shot the shampoo into his eye, Sirius stumbled out and grabbed the warmed towel and scrubbed at his eyes, so that when he opened them he saw black spots.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, Sirius padded back into the dorm room and began rummaging through his trunk for clean school robes.

"Sirius?" James asked suddenly from where he lay on his bed, his glassed rammed haphazardly onto his nose.

Squealing in a very girlish manner, Sirius dropped the towel and treated James to very graphic early morning view.

"Merlin, Sirius put some bloody clothes on will you? That wasn't the thing I imagined I'd see first thing in the morning" James cried as Sirius scrabbled around to find his towel or some boxers, which ever came his way first.

"You two are such morons" A sleepy voice floated over from the bed across from Sirius's, Remus had emerged from under the covers looking slightly dishevelled and tired. His tawny brown hair was knotted and messy: purple rings hung beneath his usually bright eyes.

"Well good morning to you too" James said as he pulled a box of sweets his mother had sent him, out of the side cupboard and began to eat a pre-breakfast snack. Remus muttered something before slowly peeling the duvet and about three blankets from on top of him.

"Rem where d'you get all them blankets from?" Sirius asked as he finally pulled the towel around him again, sighing in the magical warmth it provided.

"Huh? Oh them, I don't know really, they just appeared a few weeks ago, haven't you guys got them too?" Remus asked from where he still sat on his bed, his knees against his chest and eyeing the cold floor nervously.

"No, I haven't" Sirius cried outraged, he wanted some blankets too; it could be bloody cold up in the tower "Have you got any blankets James?" He asked his best friend, eager to see if he was the only one who didn't have any extra blankets on his bed.

"Nah, I'm the same as you Sirius mate" James told him as he carried on munching through the sweets.

"You two can have one of my blankets then, I don't mind, I don't really need them anyway" Remus told him evenly, but Sirius saw the smaller boy bite his lip and look at the three fluffy blankets in longingly.

"You keep them Rem, I'll get a house-elf bring me and James some up, Peter doesn't need any his body fat'll keep him warm" Sirius watched as relief washed over his friends face. It was moments like these when Remus willingly and calmly gave away things he needed or wanted, that made Sirius glad he had decided to befriend him.

"Right I need to pee, so I'll see you in a bit. Oh, one of you should wake Peter up" Remus told them, his voice weak and watery as if he had suddenly just recovered from a crying fit. Sirius watched as Remus scooted to the edge of his bed and placed his bare feet down onto the cold floor, he winced; then stood up.

He stumbled forward for a few steps before crashing down to the floor dragging some of the covers with him. Remus groaned then cursed as he tried to haul himself back up.

"Stupid cold makes me sleepy and gives me dead legs" Remus muttered as Sirius laughed at how stupid his friend looked. Sirius wasn't the most sympathetic person alive, so it didn't surprise him when the thought to help his friend up popped into his mind a few seconds later than most normal people.

"Coming Rem, I'll save you from the dreaded dead legs" Sirius laughed as he bounded over to the side of the opposite bed. Remus glared up at him half-heartedly and tried to cover up his embarrassment at falling over. He was pitifully thin and pale and some small part in Sirius's mind really wanted to hug his friend and reassure him tomorrow would be okay, but he didn't, it would be stupid if he did that.

Grimacing as he felt the bones of the smaller boy sticking into him, Sirius pulled Remus to his feet and steadied him.

"You can let go now I'm fine, and Sirius put some damn clothes on, you may like parading around in your birthday suit but it doesn't mean we all like to watch you" Remus pulled away and stumbled into the bathroom, locking the door behind himself.

"He's right you know, ..!" James hollered at him causing Peter to jump violently out of bed and look around the room frantically.

"Sirius how come you haven't got any clothes on?" Peter asked him after he realised there was no fire. Sirius found the chubby boy a little bit annoying, but he was good in time of emergencies, he could be used as bait or to distract people.

"Because I am a God Peter, and Gods do not need those things you call clothes" Sirius puffed his chest out and bit his lip to stop himself laughing at the look of awe on Peter's face, that boy was so gullible.

"He's not a God Pete, he's a lunatic who so far has refused to put his clothes on" James told Peter as he began to pull his own school clothes on and run a comb through his hair, not that it made much difference. Peter frowned and began to scramble upwards just as Remus came out of the bathroom.

Spinning round to grin at Remus, Sirius frowned once more at the absence of his friend, but couldn't mull it over for long as James tackled him and pulled a set of school robes over his head.

~o0O0o~

Remus wasn't at breakfast either, which was odd as he normally shovelled down about five sausages and two rounds of toast before he was ready for the day's classes. As he piled the food onto his plate Sirius finally told James what had been nagging him about Remus.

"James, do you reckon Remus is all right?" Sirius asked his best friend as they began to shovel in the hot tasty food.

"What d'you mean? Cause you if mean at the moment I just think he is a little stressed about seeing his grandmother" James answer with a shrug before waving at Lilly Evans who scowled at him and began to spear bacon violently.

"No, I meant do you think Remus has some kind of illness? I mean he is always eating and he never seems to get any fatter, his bones stick out and sometimes he looks like he wants to just sleep or die. We are the only boy's dorm room that have a bathroom attached, and it isn't for me or you is it?" Sirius bit his lip, but stopped as he realised Remus did it all the time and it gave him horribly chapped lips. He liked Remus, he liked him a lot and even though they had only been friends for a month or two it still scared him think about him possibly having a fatal illness.

James eyebrows furrowed together as he processed Sirius's idea and when he finally spoke, he deliberately spoke slowly.

"You could be right you know, it kind of fits right?" James looked at Sirius who nodded and started to bite his lip again "He's always skinny and pale even when he eats lots more than us, he always gets sick as well and I swear when he fell over today it wasn't from dead legs" Sirius listened closely to what James said and felt his stomach plummet, Remus really was Ill and he, Sirius, had made his life horrible for the first few weeks of Hogwarts.

"Merlin, I am a horrible person, I belong in Slytherin not Gryffindor" Sirius groaned loudly as he rested his head against the table.

"What are you talking about?" James asked him around half a sausage he had just shoved into his mouth.

"I made his life miserable for the first few weeks, he should have been making friends, not sitting a corner of the classroom whilst everyone else but Lilly Evans gave him strange looks cause I told them he was crazy, I should be tied up and killed. I didn't even stop silently taunting him when he got ill remember?" Sirius muttered and tried to think of something other than him being a complete bastard to Remus.

"Don't beat yourself up Sirius, that was when you were still getting the 'Blackness' out of your system" James's comment almost made Sirius laugh but he still couldn't forget what he had done.

Leaving Sirius to brood, James leant over the table and told Peter their theory.

"You don't think it could be fatal do you?" Peter asked nervously then added "Or catching?"

Sirius growled a little under his breath, how could Peter be worrying whether it was contagious when their friend might be seriously ill and hadn't told them yet?

"Don't be daft, if it was they wouldn't have let him come here or share a room with other people" James said pleasantly before announcing it was time to leave for Transfiguration.

"I'm staying here, and I am going to die painfully because I am Evil like the rest of my bloody family" Sirius muttered to James who ignored him and began to pull him up to his feet.

"If we don't get a move on McGonagall will kill us" James said loudly before dragging a self depressed Sirius from the hall.

~o0O0o~

Remus was sitting at the end of the row of desks at the very back of the room, rubbing his hands together and blowing on them even though it wasn't too cold yet, Sirius added that to his mental list of signs that Remus was ill. Glancing at James meaningfully, Sirius loped over to his friend like nothing was amiss and all was normal.

"Hey Rem, how come you weren't at breakfast? The sausages missed you" Sirius joked with him and nudged him with his elbow. He hid behind another grin as he watched Remus turn ghostly white with a greenish tinge.

"I wasn't hungry that's all, got to watch my waist line with all the food I have been shovelling in the past few weeks" Remus told him weakly whilst trying to grin at him reassuringly, it came out more as grimace of pain. Sirius so wanted to shout and scream and ask him what was wrong, but yet again he refrained from doing so.

Sirius was about to ask James something but was cut short as Professor McGonagall began to teach.

"Please get out your parchment and ink, today will be theory lesson, I have expected you to have read the two chapters on Animal to Animal transfiguration and would like a six inch essay handed in to me by the end of the lesson. You may find…." Sirius stopped listening to his teacher and looked over at James, no one but Remus out of the four of them had read the chapters, to grin his usual roguish smile but stopped when he saw James's face.

Twisting in his seat to look at where James had directed his gaze, Sirius saw Remus had fallen asleep and his head was slowly sliding down his arm till it hit the wooden desk with a dull thud. Lilly was looking over at Remus from a row of desks to their right and she looked concerned, a little frown between her eyebrows and her mouth slightly open.

"Mr. Lupin" McGonagall's clear voice said quite loudly from the end of their row, causing him to wake up suddenly and snap his neck upright so he could look at the professor. Her face looked as impassive as ever but her eyes were concerned.

"Mr. Lupin please can you follow me outside for a few minutes, I think we need to talk" She looked at Remus with a knowing gaze which made him curl in upon himself, Sirius hadn't seen him do that for about four weeks and now it suddenly came back in a flash.

"Y-y-yes Professor" Remus said obediently before following her out of the room and into the corridor.

"Must be something really bad if McGonagall's star pupil is called out of class" A snooty Ravenclaw boy, sitting a few rows in front of Sirius said loudly to his friends, evidently meaning for everyone else to hear. Opening his mouth to tell the Ravenclaw what he thought, Sirius suddenly bit his tongue when another person voiced his opinion for him.

"Oh shut up Darren, can't you see he's ill, or is your giant Ego blocking your sight?" Lilly hissed scathingly from where she sat, her eyes blazing and her lip curled. The stupid part of Sirius's brain that only came out when it was pranking time suddenly piped up singing 'you go girl' he stifled the urge to shout out what his mind was saying and wait for Remus to return.

A few minutes later Remus walked back over to them and sat down firmly, grabbed his quill and began to write his essay, not even batting an eyelid at his friends' worried faces.

~o0O0o~

After watching Remus carefully for the rest of the day, Sirius finally couldn't hold in what he had to say anymore and as they sat in the common room he motioned for his three friends to join him in their dorm room.

When all of them had assembled in the room Sirius waited for them to become quite and look at him expectantly, waiting for whatever he had to say. James kept on shooting him warning glances but Sirius didn't acknowledge them, he wanted to make sure Remus wasn't ill.

"Right, as we have been friends for a few months now, I think it's time to stop keeping secrets from each other and begin to trust each other" He announced loudly before carrying on "I want to ask you questions, things I don't know about you and you need to answer truthfully" The plan was forming in his head, already imagining how Remus would react, he would tell them because hopefully he trusted them enough by now.

Grinning at James who was staring at him like he was crazy, Sirius asked his first question.

"James, why does your mum call you Jammy?" Sirius asked him innocently, he really did want to know that though, so maybe this little game would uncover more things than just Remus's illness. James glared at him before answering.

"Because when I was little I would only eat foods with jam in them, okay" James glared at him again but said in a small voice "Plus my mum thought it was cute" Sirius snorted with laughter at his best friends nickname. Composing himself to ask Peter a question, Sirius filed away the information in a part of his mind expressly used for blackmail.

"Peter your turn, can you actually fit seven expanding marshmallows in your mouth at same time?" Sirius couldn't really believe Peter when he had told him at dinner a few days ago, as he had only managed to fit two in before choking and having to get the house elf his mother owned to help him breathe again.

"Oh yes, I would show you but I ate all of them in charms, sorry" Peter told him proudly before jumping up and down on his bed excitedly "Oh please can I ask Remus the next question, please!" Sirius nodded, he didn't want emus to get suspicious, even though he wanted to hex Peter's brains out.

"Yey!" Peter exclaimed before turning to Remus who was looking at all three of them with an incredulous look on his face "Remus do you have some sort of long running illness?" Peter asked casually, causing Remus's eyes to bulge and his mouth to drop.

"Excuse me? N-n-no I don't" Remus stuttered before looking away towards his clock "Oh look at the time, I really need to be going, Professor McGonagall will be wondering where I am. See you guys in a few days" Remus spoke wildly before grabbing his satchel full of clothes and fleeing from the room.

Remus was lying, Sirius could tell by his voice and the way his eyes darted back and forth, and he was personally going to kill Peter.

"Smooth move, Pete" Sirius told him angrily, letting the sarcasm drip from his voice as he stormed into the bathroom.

* * *

><p>'They suspect, oh god they suspect something's going on' Remus thought fearfully as he pattered across the stone corridor and into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was tending to a Huffelpuff first year that had fallen ill with the flu and was now being fed Pepper-up potion every five hours.<p>

Standing a little awkwardly just inside the door, Remus waited whilst she administered sleeping potion to the girl before walking over to Remus with her customary kind expression on her face. She gave him a little squeeze before herding him into the hidden room where he stayed after his change.

"How are you feeling Remus dear?" She asked him pleasantly as she began to rummage through her office for a potion that would dull the pain of his aching muscles.

"I'm fine thank you, just the usual headaches and muscle cramps" Remus tried desperately to get his voice to a cherry level but it just made him seem slight crazy so he settled for a tone of uplifting depression in his voice.

"I don't know how you can stand it all you know, I have treated people with lesser wounds and hurts that have made much more fuss than you" she told him soothingly as she brushed his fringe from his eyes and handed him a small glass filled with shimmering liquid.

"Just sit for a while and let the potion work, in about half an hour I'll take you down to the shrieking shack" She called over her shoulder as she bustled back into the office to deal with paperwork. Remus liked Madam Pomfrey immensely; he always felt comforted and appreciated when he was in the hospital wing. Other healers at had dismissed him and left him till last when his Transformation wounds were really bad; Madam Pomfrey didn't even flinch when she treated and healed him.

Remus let his thoughts wander back to the confrontation between his friends that had happened only a few minutes ago, he remembered their faces first. Peter had looked confused as he asked it, almost as if it wasn't him asking the question, and James and Sirius had looked fearful and worried. Remus wanted to kick himself, he hadn't hidden the obvious thing well enough, and like McGonagall had told him, they were bright boys.

Eventually Madam Pomfrey left her office and came over to his bed to help him put on his old travelling robe. Together they exited the small side door that led from his room and out behind the greenhouses, they walked in silence, Madam Pomfrey's hand hovered just above his elbow in case he tripped or fell.

The air was chilly and it cut through the thin robe like daggers, it seemed to get even colder as they walked along the dirty underground passage to the shrieking shack. Even though they were still a distance from the house Blood and urine was sharp in his nose as they walked. Another undertone of fear and pain was picked up as they reached the trapdoor that led into the dusty, empty rooms.

Together they climbed up into the room, but after a fleeting hug Madam Pomfrey left again, sealing the trapdoor as she went. Slowly taking of his clothes, Remus placed them on top of a tall wardrobe and began to ascend the stairs.

Whimpering as the cold bit into his bare flesh and cause goose pimple to flare up, Remus paused midstride, a thupping, scratching sound was coming from a disused linen closet on his right it sounded like an animal of some sort and Remus would feel really bad if it was killed because of the wolf.

Grabbing the handle Remus yanked at the door for a few second before it burst open, to his horror it wasn't an animal that fell out of the small space, but Sirius.

"W-w-w-what the hell?" Remus murmured terrified as his friend straightened up and glared down at him in disgust.

"You disgusting beast, how dare you think you can share our dorm room or even talk to me, you deserve to be killed or condemned, you savage piece of filth" Sirius hissed at him, his eyes narrowed in dislike and his fists clenched beside his side. Tears stung in his eyes as the words cut into him.

"Sirius, p-p-please listen, I have never hurt anyone I p-promise you!" Remus cried as he backed into a corner to somehow escape the cruel words that were aimed at him.

"Be quiet you pathetic scumbag, I know what you are, you're a _werewolf_" the way Sirius spat the words at him made Remus cry out, it was a wet sob that racked through him, and the other boys name was almost unintelligible as Remus cried it out.

"Don't speak to me" Sirius hissed before storming off down the corridor. Remus lurched forwards to grab his clothes but stopped as a ripping; cracking pain ran through his chest and he screamed, the moon was up and the wolf was escaping.

* * *

><p><strong>Review or fave please :)<strong>


	9. Oh I thought

**Sorry I haven't uploaded in like ages, been busy with lots of things but I finaly managed to write another chapter for all of you,**

**blah blah blah, lol I love you all, almost as much as the face mask I was wearing when I wrote this (it was strawberry and I am not ashamed to say I may have eaten some of it :) **

* * *

><p>Remus was suddenly sucked out of unconsciousness as a cold breeze blew past him causing him to gasp as if someone had suddenly dropped him into a vat of ice water. Something was blocking his vision, but when he blinked a few times he realised it was just dark. Remus frowned slightly, why would the hospital wing be dark? Unless…<p>

Shifting his hand a little, Remus felt that whatever he was lying on was slight gritty and dusty, not to mention hard and cold, he shivered again as another chill crawled across his body. Drawing his outstretched arm into his body so as to preserve heat, Remus stopped quickly as he realised he was dragging his hand through something sticky that smelled of rust, his stomach lurched.

Scanning the room again Remus' eyes began to pick out dull shapes and edges his groggy mind hadn't noticed earlier, a wardrobe with large scratch marks running down the front panel, a rickety chair that was smashed to splinters on the floor and a broken bedstead, the door to the room was hanging off its hinges giving Remus the view of a peeling wall on the other side.

He was in the shrieking shack, but why? He never woke up straight after his transformation, but the darkness of the room and the slight pinkish glow that was slowly falling in from the high window told Remus had done just that. Groaning slightly as the aching of his bones and muscles began to kick in, he tried to think back to the night before.

Fear gripped Remus as his mind was cast back to the last human thoughts he had thought the night before, Sirius had been in here. Oh God no! Remus begged silently as his heart rate hitched up and his breathing became laboured. Mind spinning, he began to push upwards but stopped as a terrible scream of pain hit is ears, it took a second to register it was his own. Falling backwards against the hard floor of the shrieking shack, Remus let the pained whimpers escape his lips as he clutched desperately at his leg. It felt as if it were being burned with red hot pokers as well as being sliced open by ice cold knives; it was highly strange as well as painful.

Letting his head fall back Remus listened to the stillness around him, it was unnerving, but as he tilted his head slightly, a small noise caught his attention. Someone was muttering a spell downstairs and making little squeaky noises, Remus frowned again. Shortly afterwards a soft pattering of footsteps on the wooden stair case reached his ears, a waft of medicinal potions and clean linen hit his nose and he breathed deeply, Madam Pomfrey was here.

Twisting again as Remus's sleepy mind forgot the movement cause pain, He screamed once more as the hospital matron hurried up the last flight of stairs and into the destroyed room where he was now lying, completely naked and covered in blood.

"Remus!" She cried shrilly from the doorway before rushing to his side, her face shocked and slightly tearful "Remus sweetheart are you okay? You don't normally wake till we are up at the school" she asked him softly as she pressed her hand against his hip causing him to yelp in pain. Looking at her horrified face as she examined his leg, Remus felt hysterical, frantic tears swell up in his eyes and he began to sob loudly and freely, something he normally would have felt embarrassed about.

"Oh sweetheart, don't worry, it will be fine, it always is" She murmured soothingly before getting to her feet and casting a stretcher from thin air before waving her wand at Remus, who felt a sudden weightlessness about his heavy, tired limbs. The movement was barely much but Remus still felt himself slipped back to the blackness.

When Remus opened his eyes again, it was to a wholly different process than earlier. For one thing he was warm and immensely sleepy, not the mention how bright and welcoming the little room he was staying in was. Two voices were talking nearby and at first he tried to ignore them and go back to sleep, but the mention of his name bought him back to the conversation.

"…Poor boy, he's shattered his hip and broken his leg in three different places for goodness sake, and that's not even mentioning the rest of his wounds." Madam Pomfrey's voice floated over to him from the open doorway before another voice cut over her.

"Calm down Poppy, you can fix him can't you?" Another female voice asked the matron calmly.

"Yes, of course I can" Madam Pomfrey told her curtly as if any question to her healing skills was an insult.

"Well I see no problem so long as we regularly check the shack for boggarts and whatnot, then Mr. Lupin should be able to transform in peace" The other female told her.

"I guess you're right Minerva, but I swear if Remus has to suffer more than he has to ever again I'm going on the war path" Madam Pomfrey said to who Remus now knew to be Professor McGonagall.

Remus smiled at the Matron's words; then let out a little sigh. Thank god it had just been a boggart and not the real Sirius, if it had; well Remus knew he couldn't have lived with himself. He had never hurt another person for as long as he had been a werewolf and it would have crushed him that the first person he hurt had been his friend, and he didn't have enough friends to begin with anyway.

Cocking his head a little, Remus saw a jug of crystal clear water that refracted the light onto his clean bed sheets; the sight suddenly reminded him of his thirst. Luckily Remus hadn't damaged his arms to much this time, so he was able to sip the glass of cool water without the aid of Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh Remus you're awake" Madam Pomfrey bustled in cheerfully as she closed the door behind her; Remus caught a glance of the retreating form of Professor McGonagall before the view was cut off.

"Hmm, let's take a look at that leg of yours, I tried to fix it as best I could this morning, but now you are awake I'll give it another go" Madam Pomfrey smiled widely at him, but it looked forced and painful. Carefully she helped Remus turn onto his side so that his damaged leg was exposed so she could begin to heal it.

"Remus dear, I'm going to set your broken bones so they will be healed by tonight, I am afraid it will take a little longer to repair your hip, and when it is healed I don't want you walking on it for about three days, it looks as if you're in for a long stay this month" She told him as kindly as possible before turning towards his leg "Remember you don't need to hold your screams In dear, no-one can hear them"

Remus bit his lip and nodded, he was going to have to create a good cover up for why he had been missing so long.

~o0O0o~

Remus was confined to his bed for a week and a half; it drove him slightly crazy being there on his own with no one to talk to most of the time except Madam Pomfrey. A week after his 'change' he sat in his bed listening longingly to the commentary of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff game as it wafted through the open window above him.

Sirius, James and Peter would be sitting in the crowd cheering and whooping for Gryffindor, none of them probably thinking once where their friend was or what could have happened to him. They probably didn't ponder it once, they had only become his friends out of pity and guilt, but pity friends were better than nothing.

Looking down bitterly, Remus pulled his History of Magic book towards him and began to read.

* * *

><p>James glared at Sirius, but Sirius chose to ignore him and carry on biting his already stubby nails, Remus, quiet, insignificant Remus had failed to return from his Grandfather's funeral and it was causing Sirius to worry like a headless chicken. Some part of him had known something was wrong when their friend hadn't turned up after three days, James had dismissed it and said Remus's father probably wanted him to stay for a while, but Sirius couldn't stand not knowing, for surely if Remus was staying at his fathers, he would have owled them by now.<p>

"Merlin Sirius, were just as concerned as you, but I see no reason for you to bite your fingers off completely" James sighed irritably from where he sat on his own four poster reading some kind of mindless Quidditch magazine. If it had been any other time Sirius would have joined him in reading about the latest models and the new tricks they could learn, but the empty bed across from him kept reminding him of what was missing from their dorm room.

"It's been a week James, more in fact than a whole bloody week; he might have died for all we know!" Sirius raged before falling dejectedly on top of his duvet, hoping that when he turned back to face the world Remus had returned and was sitting down to read one of his tediously long volumes he found in the dark corners of the library, but no, he was still gone.

"Calm down you ninny, if he had died they would have cleared out his corner of the room" James told him matter-of-factly, but his voice broke a little "Wouldn't they?" he asked Sirius suddenly a look of fear flitted over his face.

"Of course they would James" Sirius mumbled before thinking back to his dream the night Remus had left.

It had been dark, and he, Sirius, had been wandering alone for a few minutes until a terrible keening, screaming sound reached him from somewhere in front of him. He had tried to run forward but the floor had suddenly turned soft and it felt like running through marshmallow, eventually a pale from, stark against the blackness all around, had appeared in the distance. Willing himself to run forward, He had broken free from the marshmallow floor and skidded towards the pale form through some kind of liquid. He had stood above it horror filled, it was a skinny human huddled on the floor, their ribs sticking out painfully and their bony arms clutched to their bare chest. Shaking, he had touched whoever it was on the shoulder, they were cold, before stealing himself and pushing the tiny, hunched body so he could see who it belonged to. He had screamed then and slipped backwards, only then realising he had been standing in blood, just before his head hit the floor, he had woken.

Turning over to look at the slightly vaulted ceiling, Sirius couldn't get the image of Remus's face from his mind. His pale delicate features had been covered in blood and his eyes were glazed and dull, no twinkle or spark of life was in them. Remus' soft caramel brown hair had been almost crimson with blood, and some part of Sirius told him that this image was true, but it couldn't, it just couldn't, it had been a stupid dream.

"Sirius, wake Pete for me, I need to pee" James told him suddenly as he let his magazine fall to the ground with a slap and wandered over to the small bathroom.

Groaning, Sirius picked up his wand and flicked it randomly in Peters direction, it didn't do much except caused his disregarded underwear and socks to perform tap-dance on the end of his bed. Sirius grinned a little before flopping back onto his bed; it was Peter's fault if he didn't wake up. His grin quickly slipped of his face when he heard a soft tapping noise, it was probably some prefect or something, and they loved to blame whatever went wrong the four, mostly three, friends that stayed in dorm room three.

Sirius didn't answer, maybe if they thought he was down at breakfast they would leave and go and search for him down there. Silence issued before the door creaked slowly open and a whole unexpected face popped around the door frame, a face with caramel brown hair and a pink scar that ran along his nose and ended on his cheek.

"Oh, I thought you had all gone down to breakfast" Remus stated quickly, not moving from behind that door. Sirius stared at his friend dumbstruck, wanting to ask him where he had been and how he was, and if what he had dreamt had actually happened. Instead his mouth took over without help from the brain.

"You bastard, where Hell have you been? You could have owled us, we thought you had died or something" Sirius exploded suddenly, causing Remus to flinch back a little.

"I told you I went to my Grandfather's funeral" Remus told him calmly but his cheeks flushed a little and his eyes darted. Sirius snorted and looked out of the window, ignoring Remus when he passed by him.

"Rem, no one has funerals that last for a week and a half" Sirius finally retorted but stopped as his eyebrows shot upwards, Remus was standing by his bed an embarrassed smile on his face, he looked as normal as ever except that he was leaning heavily on a crutch and hold his beds frame to support himself "Fuck, how'd you do that?" He cried at Remus.

"Alright Sirius, I am Ill and who knows one day it could kill me, I know that's what you want to know" Remus said heavily as he sat down and began inspecting his hands. Sirius's mind went blank, Remus was ill? Once more Sirius's mouth spoke without his brains consent.

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer my questions does it?" Sirius snapped before he could stop himself, Remus looked up at him blankly.

"I went to the funeral, but on the way back to my Father's house a little down the road I fell and shattered by leg, I've been St. Mungos for the past week, I'm sorry I didn't owl you" Remus told him softly, no emotion showing on his face.

"Aww Rem, I'm sorry, I was just worried about you" Sirius told him apologetically before bounding over and giving him a quick hug, just then James walked out of the bathroom, he didn't look over at them until he was right in front of Remus' bed.

"Hey, when did you get here Remus? I swear I only went for a piss and you turn up" James laughed before giving Remus' shoulder a squeeze before drifting over to his own bed to get changed, on the way over, James idly kicked Peter so he rolled off his bed and on to the floor, amazingly he still slept.

When Peter finally woke up and dressed, the four of them began to walk towards the great hall, James and Peter filled Remus in on all the work he had missed and the particularly excellent prank they had played on some of the Slytherins, Sirius however drifted along slight behind, letting his mind drift along at its own, lest he admit it, slow pace.

Remus had admitted he was ill, and that it could possibly kill him. What he couldn't comprehend was how Remus, someone who he knew, albeit he had only known him a few months, would never hurt someone on purpose. He was gentle and kind and be honest he was a damn sight better at things than he liked to let on, he was a good friend but sometimes Sirius caught him with a dejected look as he bit his lip in that annoying way of his, and somehow Sirius thought he saw part of Remus that wasn't meant for public show, the part of him that was even more messed up and crazy than his usual quiet, slightly unnerving exterior.

Remus was like him, Sirius could tell, Remus seemed to be surprised when someone actually cared for him or wanted to include him in something. Sirius guessed he had had a childhood that hadn't given him much love or attention too, his illness probably didn't help.

"Hey Sirius what's going on in that thick skull of yours?" James called over from way in front; he had lagged behind his friends without thinking.

"Lots that you shall never understand my dear chap" Sirius called happily before running forward to join his friends, Remus had ditched his crutch in their dorm room so James and Peter were hovering on either side of him making sure he didn't fall over, but Peter shifted over so Sirius could walk beside Remus.

As they rounded the corner they stumbled upon Evan Rosier, a third year, leering over a cowering Hufflepuff girl Remus recognised as the one who had had flu the night of his change. Rosier's wand was trained on the small girl face and he was sneering at her about her blood status or some other insignificant thing he wished to bring up.

"Why hello Evan, nice to see you again" Sirius said pleasantly, causing the older boy to turn around in shock before a sneer covered his ugly face. In the lapse of Rosier's attention the small girl had slipped under his arms and ran off down the corridor.

"Sirius" He spat "I don't know how you can show your disgraced face around here anymore, I mean you're a Black who isn't in Slytherin, I mean what's the world come to?" He laughed cruelly.

"Ah, But I am happier and far more better than any of my damn relatives you know" Sirius answered him unfazed " and now I am going to teach a lesson not picking on poor firsties such as myself and that girl you just terrorised" Sirius grinned gleefully up into the twisted face of his distant relative.

"Ha, and what could a first year Gryffindor do to me?" He laughed once more.

"Let's find out then shall we" Sirius replied happily, drawing out his wand and pushing his sleeves up his arms. Just as he was about open his mouth, Remus looked at him and shook his head, an evil twinkle in his eyes that took Sirius aback.

Carefully Remus raised his own wand and flicked it in some intricate way so a soft blue light wafted over Rosier and absorbed into his skin, nothing happened.

"Oh look, nothing happened" He leered "I'm not even going to bother with you, you're all insults to your selves" He turned and lumbered off down the corridor laughing darkly.

Sirius looked at Remus and couldn't help but grin at the small insignificant smile on his friends face and the way his eyes sparkled.

"Go on Remus, what did you really do?" James asked all eagerness, if you thought one of Remus's spells hadn't worked you had to be rather thick; Remus was excellent at casting just the right spell for any occasion.

"Well let's just say in the middle of his fourth lesson, which I believe to be Transfiguration, he shall truly know what a first year can do to him" Remus laughed quietly.

"That brilliant Remus, you're a bloody genius as we've said many times" Peter cooed over, his watery eyes filled with respect.

"Nah Pete, anyone could have done it" Remus mumbled before starting to walk forward again.

Sirius Smiled sadly, Remus was just too nice a person to deserve to be lumbered and inflicted with a possibly fatal illness.

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><p><strong>REVIEW PLEASE! OR ADD TO YOUR ALERTS OR BOTH IF YOUR FEELING HAPPY ;) <strong>

**love you all :)**


	10. Snowball Fight

**Sorry it's been a while since I last uploaded a chapter, but its here now.**

** Enjoy and please please review, Reviews make me write faster :)**

**only just realised this doesn't seem to break up, so sorry if you feel its too much text in one go, I'm sorry.**

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><p>Remus opened his eyes and looked up at the darkness above of him, little chunks of light skittered across the edge where the folds of the thick curtain let it in at the top. He felt his mouth curl into a smile, for some inexplicable reason he felt exceedingly happy today, maybe the fact that Christmas was approaching was finally setting in or it was that he was soon to see his father again.<p>

Still smiling, Remus pulled his duvet from over his legs and swung around so he could open his hangings without having to stretch, yanking the thick material back, Remus blinked a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to harsh brightness. The dorm looked the same as ever, discarded clothes and sweet rappers littered the floor around the other three boy's beds and Remus could see Sirius's dark mop of hair sticking over the top of his covers. Sirius never slept with his curtains drawn in case of the need for a quick getaway was suddenly required and the thick material got in his way.

Humming softly to himself Remus slid out of bed and padded over to the small bathroom they all shared and began to wash his face in the cool water that was spurting from the shiny metal tap into the clean enamel sink. Running a comb through his mussed up honey hair, Remus pulled his robes on and unlocked the door. None of his roommates had woken up yet so it fell to him to be the personal alarm clock of one Sirius Black.

Tugging at the bottom corner of Sirius's bed clothes, Remus pulled the duvet down so his friends head and shoulders were visible, causing the young boy to twitch a little then burrow lower into the warmth of his bed. Sighing, Remus tugged the covers more before ripping them unceremoniously from on top of Sirius, who in turn squealed like a small child and jumped up from bed.

"Merlin Rem! Its bloody freezing" Sirius roared before jumping on Remus who was laughing so hard that tears sprung from his eyes, yelping and laughing the two of them rolled around on the floor in mock fight before Remus pulled himself up and straightened his school robes. The commotion had awoken Peter and James, who peered blearily from their own beds to look down at Sirius who was still sitting disgruntled on the dormitory floor.

Remus offered Sirius his hand, who gladly accepted the offer and was soon on his feet again.

"Remus if you ever do that again I'm going to hex your arse into your ears" Sirius threatened him before he wandered into the bathroom, his dark hair sticking up at the back.

Turning round to grin at his friends, Remus laughed at their confused faces before making his way down into the common room, too hungry to wait for them to be ready for breakfast. Just as he entered the cosy room he caught sight of a flash of red hair bob above the back of one the overstuffed armchairs then disappear from sight again. Creeping over quietly, he placed one hand on either side of her head before shouting her name loudly.

"Lily!" His exclamation caused her to scream and spin around, an angry expression on her pretty face. Snarling in way that would scare of a pack of lions; she smacked her book against his head.

"Don't ever creep up on me again, Remus Lupin!" Lily hollered at him, her hair falling out of her bun at the edges.

"Whoa, clam down Lils, it was only a joke" he told her hurriedly as he placed his hands up in surrender, sighing up at him, she climbed off of the chair and began towards the portrait hole, Remus following behind silently.

When they arrived at the hall, it was mostly empty, only a few students sat at each table as the rest were probably still in bed. Lily and Remus parted ways when they reached the Gryffindor table, Lily going to join a fifth year prefect who she has become friendly towards, and Remus to sit in his usual spot on the table.

Piling up his plate with bacon and eggs, Remus began to listen to two older students with bright ginger hair who were talking loudly and laughing cheerily.

"Did you see McWhiskers face when you charmed Adam to sing Love songs to her whenever he opened his mouth?" One of the boys asked the other, a wide grin on his freckly face, the other nodded before falling back in peals of laughter.

"Though we have still to beat that rather magnificent octopus that sent McWhiskers into a relentless quest for blood and vengeance" One of them said to other, both looked so alike it was hard to tell which one had spoken before if you weren't playing attention. At the mention of the infamous octopus prank, Remus spluttered a little on food, bringing himself to the attention of the twin boys just along the table.

"You alright there?" The one closest to Remus asked, his brown eyes still shining with laughter.

"Umm, yeh I'm fine, just the mention of the octopus prank caught me off guard" He said confidently, his unusually happy demeanour taking over from his shyness. The two boys glanced at each other knowingly before speaking again.

"Take it you got caught up in all the goo then?" the farthest away boy asked him, a small smile on his freckly face. Remus smirked and turned back to his plate full of food before answering.

"Oh no, my friends and I were behind that whole thing" He said airily before taking a bite out of the sausage speared on his fork. Both boys grinned at each other before leaning forward on their elbows to talk privately to Remus.

"Well done, me and Gid here are going to have to keep a look out for you lot, this school needs some more trouble makers" With that they two boys slid from behind the table and walked out of the steadily filling hall.

Eventually Sirius, James and Peter immerged from the throng of students milling around in the entrance hall, two identical expressions of mischief of the former two's faces, almost at the same time the three of them sank down next to each other opposite Remus. Sirius's face gave him straight away, his arching grin and shining eyes, not to mention the fact he was practically buzzing with excitement, Remus narrowed his eyes and asked cautiously, "Siri, what have you done?"

However before Sirius could answer Remus's question a series of four loud explosions filled the air, extracting many shrieks of shock from all over the hall and the staff table, and causing an angry looking Professor McGonagall to storm out of the wide wooden doors, followed by a faintly amused looking headmaster.

A look of indiscretion washed over Remus as he stared at his three grinning friends; of course they would be responsible for blowing up the school, who else could it be? His happiness slowly died away inside of him, leaving annoyance and slighted anger. He glared at them stonily.

Sirius finally took note of Remus's less then pleased expression and began to peer into his eyes as if to see what was making Remus angry.

"Rem, you look like a dragon just ate your favourite book, what's up?" Sirius asked him carefully, in case Remus's sudden and frankly frightening wrath was released on him.

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact you just blew up the school and they are obviously going to find out it was you and I'll probably be added along to your detentions" Remus answer crisply before turning away with a huff to look at Dumbledore who was re-entering the main hall. Every head soon turned to look the headmaster whose eyes were twinkling and a small smile starting at the right corner of his mouth.

"Due to a sudden…explosion on the second floor, all lessons are suspended for today. But I assure you that we will catch the culprits and they will be severely punished" after he had finished his small speech the students erupted into happy cheers at gaining an unexpected day off.

"See Rem, it's not all bad, I got us a day off of the boring lessons" Sirius crowed happily, but Remus looked back at him affronted.

"Oh, Erm okay Rem, calm down, I promise if we do get caught we'll tell McGonagall it wasn't you" James intervened quickly, obviously hoping he could appease Remus before he got angry.

Sighing, Remus relented and allowed himself to be dragged out of the hall by his friends and head towards the great oak doors, before they could exit however, the massive form Hagrid blocked their way. Sirius who had formed a tight friendship with the games keeper over the few months he had been at Hogwarts greeted him warmly.

"Hello Hagrid, mind if we come to visit you later?" Sirius called up to the man, who in return cracked a wide grin that was almost covered by his tangled black beard.

"'Ello Sirius, sure thing jus' come down whenever you please" He replied before lumbering over to the headmaster who was still standing in the great hall. Without a second glance Sirius grabbed Remus and Peter by the robes and pushed them out into the snow that had fallen about a foot deep, and soon followed them with James by his side.

"Gentlemen, I propose an all out snowball war that the likes have never been seen before" Sirius stated loudly before grabbing Remus by the arm and running behind a tree as James threw the first ball of compacted snow that hit Sirius's leather satchel with a thud.

Peeking from behind the tree, Remus saw James and Peter frantically gathering snow and making small piles of snowballs all over where they were sheltering, and then back at Sirius who also was bust gathering snow to throw back in retaliation. Grabbing his wand Remus pointed it at the snow and whispered the spell his father had taught him when they had once played a game of snowballs in their vast back garden, and the soft snow began to form into small balls on their own and line up in the air ready to be thrown or cast away.

"Awesome" Sirius breathed before lobbing his own icy handful of snow at James and Peter. Remus smiled and flicked his wand sending the dozen snowballs right to their targets, causing James to scream as snow was pelted at him from every direction.

The fight carried on much the same, until James managed to somehow cast the Disillusionment Charm over large amounts of snow and levitate them over Remus and Sirius, causing them to be continually showered with snow, but never able to actually tell when they were going to be covered in the cold white stuff. After this the attacks from both sides grew steadily more unusually, with Sirius transfiguring the snowballs into little ice birds that kept pummelling the target until they melted, and James charming the snow to hit Remus and Sirius from the back and from the front at the same time.

Remus, who had left his gloves up in the dorm room, could no longer feel his fingers and was fumbling with his wand, trying to charm the snow to move in a wave and cover Peter and James, when a well aimed snowball hit him in the back of the head causing him to stumble and slide down the steep decent just behind where he and Sirius where sheltering. Shouting in surprise, he slid headfirst into a small snow drift that had gathered in the dip.

Spluttering and rubbing the ice from his eyes he sat up and watched as Sirius edged his way down to him.

"You all right?" he asked when he was halfway down, his hat skew on his head.

"I'm hunky-dory Sirius" Remus laughed back up at him, smiling at the look of relief on Sirius's face. After hearing the commotion Remus had made as he fell, James and Peter rushed over to look at what was happening.

"Come on guys, let's go to Hagrids now, I've had enough of snow" Sirius shouted up at them before pulling Remus up to his feet and pulling him in the direction of Hagrids hut. The four of them all soaked with snow trudged up the path to the gamekeeper's door and stood their shivering whilst James knocked.

Hagrid swung the door open and ushered them into his cosy round house, the fire was blazing and a large kettle was boiling away happily on the oven.

"What ya been doin' ay? Yer all gonna freeze if yer not careful" Hagrid chuckled as he handed a mug of steaming tea to each of them, Remus cradled his and revelled in the warmth it gave his frozen fingers.

"Oh you know Hagrid, just the normal stuff" Sirius told him with a shrug before slurping his hot tea greedily. Hagrid smiled again before sitting down in his own large chair and taking a sip out of his own bucket sized mug.

"So what're you lot doin' over the holidays?" Hagrid asked the four of them, looking at each In turn.

"Oh me and James are staying here, can't wait be honest. Bet it will be a million times better than at my house" Sirius told him cheerily before elbowing Peter to tell him it was his turn to talk.

"I'm going home then I have to visit my cousins for the last week" Peter said glumly, obviously not to enthralled with his lot, and began to gulp his drink sadly.

"Remus" James prompted from where he sat next to Hagrid, breaking Remus from his slight daydream.

"I'm going home for Christmas" Remus said quietly, his carefree confidence gone from that morning. Hagrid looked at him for a few seconds then nodded.

"Your John Lupin's son aint cha?" Hagrid asked him eventually. Remus nodded then looked away embarrassed. "Good man your father, always liked 'im" He carried on before adding, "Liked yer Mum too, always smiling and nice to everyone, shame really" His voice went a little distant as if he was remembering.

Remus shifted uncomfortably and gazed down into the last dregs of his tea, hoping the stares his friends were giving him would end soon. After the uncomfortable silence had reached its breaking point, Sirius suddenly spoke up.

"Well Hagrid, it's been good talking, but I reckon we should go I'm kind of hungry and a little cold" Sirius said cheerily before dragging all three of his friends out of the door before Hagrid could protest. They all walked in silence until they reached the second floor corridor.

"Rem, you okay?" James asked him from the right whilst Sirius looked at him worriedly.

"I'm fine don't worry, it just makes me sad that other people know so much about my mum, and all I remember is jarred, broken memories" Remus told them sadly before an explosive sneeze shook him. He blinked then laughed.

"Huh, maybe we spent too much time in the snow" Sirius laughed, glad for the change in subject.

When they reached the Common room Remus made a bee-line for their dormitory, closely followed Sirius and James who had also begun to sneeze violently. They pulled off their soggy robes and dropped into their beds. Remus carefully pulled on a baggy green jumper his father had given him for Christmas and crawled into bed with a leather-bound book in his hand.

He only managed to read a chapter or two before his head began to swim and he was forced to close his eyes.

"Hey, you alright Rem?" James called to him from his own bed, his voice a little bit concerned but basically the same as normal.

"Yeh I'm fine, I think I've got a cold coming because I've got a terrible headache starting" Remus told him quietly before falling back onto his pillow with a groan and began scrubbing his knuckles over his eye sockets.

He heard the springs creak as James and Sirius both got out of bed and walked over to him, and felt it when they sat on either side of him when the mattress dipped. Sirius grabbed Remus's hands and pulled them away from his face so he could look him in the eye.

"You absolutely sure you're alright? Cause we could go and get someone if not" Sirius told him, his eyes concerned and his face kind. Remus's chest ached at how much they actually cared for his well being, and it made him feel warm and loved inside.

"Honestly I'm fine I just need to sleep it off" Remus assured them with a nod, but neither James nor Sirius left his bed though. "Umm what are you guys doing?" he asked him confused as to their actions.

"Just a precaution Rem, we can't be too careful" Sirius told him warmly before budging him up and relaxing back. Remus wanted to cry out at how wrong it was for them to be feeling protective over something that could rip their throats out in seconds, but he didn't, so just tried to get comfy in the limited space available to him since James and Sirius had taken over his bed.

After about fifteen minutes Remus felt himself fall into a semi sleep where he was plagued by strange images that skittered across his consciousness, after what felt like an age he was prodded awake by James. Groaning he shuffled towards Sirius so as to escape the prodding but it carried on even against his efforts, eventually he pulled open his eyes and glared at James.

"Hey Rem, sorry about that, just you got a letter" James told him sheepishly, emus turned around to Sirius who had a familiar owl perched on his knee. Remus fumbled a little with the tie on the letter but managed to release the parchment into his hand. Carefully tugging the seal open he began to read.

_Dear Remus,_

_I am very much looking forward to seeing you next week; I am writing this to notify you of a slight change to our Christmas plans. Your great aunt Luminessa will be staying with us as her house has suddenly been taken victim by three very nasty ghouls that the ministry is having trouble with. I hope you don't mind this arrangement as she has always been fond of you. Remember to meet me by the floo gates on the platform._

_Love Dad x_

Remus smiled and showed the letter to Sirius who then showed it to James.

"So who's this aunt Luminessa then?" Sirius asked cautiously just in case she was anything like Remus's grandmother.

"Oh she's the best, I've always liked her best from my relatives" Remus told them before burrowing deeply into the duvet and letting sleep take him again

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><p><strong>Don't be fooled by the endning, it soo does not portray the feeling of the next chapter, any way REVIEW please ;D<strong>


	11. When death comes a knocking

**Phew people, really hard to write this chapter so sorry if it seems weird I just needed to put this in place so I could introduce the next part without tons of explaining.**

**anyway review and add to alerts please, thats what makes me write :)**

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><p>The days before Remus was able to go home for Christmas wrapped up quickly and sooner than he thought he was saying goodbye to Sirius and James in the entrance hall of the castle.<p>

"See you Remus, Have a nice holiday" James told him cheerily before clapping him on the back and moving over to say bye to Peter who was in the great hall grabbing some food before they left on the horse-less carriages that would carry them into Hogsmeade.

"Have fun Rem, don't get ill either, you don't want that hanging over your Christmas" Sirius said warmly before pulling him into a fleeting hug and shooing him out of the door with Peter who had just appeared.

"Merry Christmas!" the two of them shouted as Remus and Pete climbed into a carriage and waited to begin the journey home.

~o0O0o~

Remus pulled a book from the inside of his travel bag he was taking with him, seeing it unnecessary to take his whole trunk for just a few weeks away from school. Peter having stuffed himself full of rich, tasty food had fallen asleep and was now snoring loudly as his face slid slowly along the wet window leaving a slightly greasy trail.

Folding the worn paperback on his knees fondly, Remus flicked through the pages till he found where he had last left off, and began to read.

_"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."_

Just when Remus was about to let himself be drawn into the book, the arrival of the food trolley covered in chocolate frogs grabbed his attention, so too that of the sleeping Peter who rose a bleary head to smell the sweet aromas that were wafting his way.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" the kind faced woman behind the glittering pile of sweets asked them pleasantly. Remus nodded mutely and pulled out the handful of Knuts he had in his pocket, and purchased a fair amount of chocolate to keep him going till he could pillage his own home for the creamy treats.

"Mmm, this is good" Peter cooed happily as he began to devour a pumpkin pasty, leaving crumbs all over the dark seats and all over himself, Remus resisted the urge to reprimand him for causing a mess like his father would have done if it was him.

Eventually they rolled into the teaming platform 9¾ where parents and siblings were waiting for their family members to come and met them. Remus pulled his bag onto his shoulder and pushed through the throngs of students clamouring to escape the train, he had left Peter in their compartment having already said his goodbyes.

He stood waiting for the crowd to thin and the smoke to disappear before plunging forward to find his father. After he had searched the whole floo fireplaces for any sign of him waiting, Remus looked up and saw a familiar head of salt and pepper hair standing to the side of the main entrance to the muggle train station. Confused, Remus pushed his way towards his father and when he finally reached him only managed a smile before he was interrupted.

"Remus, I'm sorry I haven't been able to tell you about the change in our meeting place. You see your aunt wanted to come along too but you know how he detests of all magical forms of transport, so we were forced to come here by muggle car" His father told him quickly before gripping him in a tight hug and dragging him through the barrier.

Trotting along happily, they reached the car parked just outside the station in a matter of minutes. John Lupin slid into the front passenger seat whilst Remus struggled to open the nearly rusted through back door, when he finally managed to yank the door open a large chunk of it fell off into his hand, recoiling in disgust he scrambled in and scooted onto the other seat just in case the door decided to fall completely off when they were driving.

A cloud of fluffy violet hair blocked his view thought the front window, but was soon replaced with the gleefully smiling face of his eccentric aunt.

"Lovely to see you Moonshine" she crowed warmly in her aged voice, her twinkling eyes magnified by her purple rimmed glasses with the small fluttering butterflies on either side. Remus blushed at her nickname for him before answering.

"I'm fine thank you Aunt Luminessa; umm do you actually know how to drive?" Remus asked her suddenly worried at being a car with an 89 year old driving virgin.

"Of course not dear, your father drove us down here and it looked ever so easy so I thought I'd give it a go" She told him with a shake of her head and a sceptical look as if Remus had asked her if she knew how to brush her teeth.

Taken aback, Remus stared at his father incredulously who in return just shook his head and clutched at his seatbelt tighter so as to hopefully keep him from smashing through the windscreen in the case of the inevitable crash that was coming their way. Shaking a little bit, Remus clipped his own seatbelt into place and gripped the seats base with a grip that would have broken bones.

His Aunt jerkily reversed his father's decrepit car out of the parking lot and began to roll it slowly down the small incline that led to the road, quickly however they picked up speed and aunt Luminessa seemed adamant to not stop as they hit the cross road. Holding his breath and closing his eyes, Remus prayed he would not meet his end by the hands of his estranged aunt.

Miraculously they didn't hit a single other vehicle, but when Remus open his eyes he caught his father muttering a quick prayer to anyone who was willing to help him to escape the slow torture that was his aunt.

~o0O0o~

Climbing out of the car, Remus stretched his arms and cracked his wrists, the journey in the car had been the tensest he could ever think of, being constantly on guard in case they flipped over and crashed in a pile of burning wreckage had given him a migraine and his now his head was profusely trying to fall forward and he stumbled upstairs to his musty bedroom.

The room housed his childhood, well whatever had remained, tattered and old. It was oddly still and quiet unlike his dorm room in the Gryffindor tower which was always awash in rich laughter and colours. Drab curtains hung limply on the small window and a smell of stagnant air hit his nose. Dragging his heavy feet he flopped on the quilted cover that was laid on his bed, and dug his parchment and quill out of his bag. Though he had only been from Hogwarts for a couple of hours, he felt cut off once more from the Wizarding world.

Carefully placing his quill on the paper he began to write to Sirius and James who had instructed both him and Peter to write them the second they arrived home.

_Hello Sirius, James_

_I fear I may be dead long before I return back to Hogwarts, My dear aunt Luminessa, though by far my favourite relative really does seem adamant in accidentally killing herself plus father and me. The only reason I say this is because she has already shown she is capable of this. I really do hope my father sees sense and forbids her from driving his muggle car ever again. _

_I'm sorry if I caused you unwanted worry by the fact this letter is late, and don't try and deny it Sirius I know you were. Oh also your Christmas presents are under my bed in a Zonkos bag but don't go looking for them just yet like I know you are now both itching to do, I promise you I will know if you open them a second to early and it will be very bad for you, Madam Pomfrey will be most displeased with your stay in the hospital wing._

_Remus _

Finishing the letter with an untidy scrawl, Remus walked back out into the garden where his father was still trying to fix the large dent that now crumpled across the driver's side of the car, smiling at each other they quickly went back to their own tasks. Snow was lightly falling from the sky and it clung to Remus's hair before melting, skirting around the muddy puddle in the middle of the path, he walked towards the stone hut that used to house his mothers potion ingredients and cauldron. It was now home to their three owls, Marshal, Alexander and Valentine; holding out his hand Valentine flew over to him and nipped his finger affectionately.

"To Sirius and James, you remember them don't you?" Remus told the owl as he tied to letter to her leg, she hooted softly before gliding out of the small window and into the sky. Seeing the snow had begun to get thicker and thicker he ran to the backdoor they rarely ever used and pushed it open, smiling as the homely smell of beef stew hit his nose. Following the entrancing aroma into the kitchen Remus found his great-Aunt stirring the thick stew with her wand and occasionally adding odd spices that caught her eye from the spice rack just above the sink.

"How are you moonshine? Not too tired to miss dinner I hope, I've been working on this for a while and I think it will be one of my better creations" She asked him, her green robes glinting at the hem where an intricate pattern of stars, moons and suns was stitched in golden thread.

"I'm fine thanks, just got a small headache" Remus told her carefully, balancing the glass tumblers in his hand whilst snapping the wooden cupboard closed. Setting them down on the scrubbed table he fetched a jug from under the sink and filled it with the ice cold water that came from the lake just behind the copse of trees.

"Oh well dear, it's probably just the excitement of coming home" Luminessa told him as she placed three bowls of the stew down. "John, get in here, I've made food" she called towards the parlour that Remus's father used as his office.

Remus began to spoon the thick stew into his mouth, revelling in the tastiness of it as it hit his taste buds. Stumbling through the dark hallway that separated the two rooms, John Lupin finally sat down next to his son with a bump and a sigh.

The three of them sat in silence, the only noise that of the spoons scraping across the china and the clink of glass on teeth. Stretching his arms out in front of himself, Remus pushed away from the table with a contented smile, bidding the two adults goodnight he wandered slowly through the empty rooms, occasionally drifting his fingertips over dusty photos and trinkets that had long been forgotten.

Darkness had fallen and the first floor was shrouded in a blanket that refused to let light pierce it, flicking the old light switch on Remus wandered over to his desk, books and parchment littered the small space available.

A scratching sound coming from the window caught Remus's attention; Valentine was perched on the window's sill trying to get inside. Leaping across the room, he quickly unlatched the bottom pane and let the golden bird fly in; she landed gracefully on his bed stead and stared at him with large eyes. Untying the slice of parchment, he quickly scanned the familiar loopy writing.

_Remus_

_Not to be drama queens, but we thought something horrible had happened to you. Sirius was all for breaking out of Hogwarts and looking for you when your letter didn't come within the hour of Peters. We thought you had been kidnapped and Peter didn't help, he said he saw you wandering around the platform with that annoyed expression you get when you can't find the right information you wanted from your beloved books. _

_Anyway it good that you are safe, and your aunt sounds great, I just hope she doesn't actually kill you because that would be depressing. Sirius would be writing this with me but he didn't heed your warnings about the Christmas presents and is now sporting a lovely purple elephant's trunk, have a nice Christmas _

_James _

Remus placed the letter on top of his pile of books and crawled into bed.

~o0O0o~

By the time Christmas reared its head, Remus's transformation had been and gone and the twinges of aching muscles were just faded memories that occasionally made themselves known. His Great aunt Luminessa had taken it upon herself to decorate the small cottage with as much tinsel and magical ornaments as possible which meant that where ever you went the chance of walking past tinsel that could grab you and strangle you to death was fairly high.

On the morning of Christmas day Remus awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs wafting up the stairs and into his nose, blearily pulling his night robe on, he stumbled downstairs into the living room where his father was already sat drinking a mug of tea.

"Morning Remus" he said cheerfully whilst pushing a small pile of presents towards his son. Remus eagerly pulled them towards himself and sat on the worn carpet careful prizing off the largest present's shiny paper. A note fell out that read 'Merry Christmas Remus' in James neat hand, and with further unwrapping revealed its self to be a large box of Zonkos merchandise, Remus smiled and turned to a smaller but equally nice gift wrapped in Gryffindor colours.

"Who are those presents from Remus?" John Lupin asked pointing at James's and the present in Remus's hand, "They arrived by post this morning and I was wondering who had sent them"

"Oh they are from my friends James Potter and Sirius Black" Remus told him before turning back to the gift in his hand. Sirius had sent him a small pile of Honeydukes finest chocolate and a black leather wrist band that he tied around his skinny wrist and knotted firmly. When he had finished opening all of his presents, Remus returned back upstairs to change into more suitable clothes than his pyjamas, when he returned downstairs his aunt was laying a full plate of bacon and eggs down on the table, they never ate a full Christmas dinner, but they had adopted the tradition of eating a bulging plate full of bacon and eggs for breakfast.

When Remus felt that he might explode, he dragged his coat from behind the door and ventured out into the cold determined to walk of the massive meal he had just consumed. The grass was crunchy underfoot where the frost had turned it into glittering spears and the air was sharp and crisp in his throat.

Jumping from the patches of ice to the gravelled pathway, Remus wandered into the copse of trees that had used to be a small wood until his father had cut it down. Reaching the other side of the copse Remus began to gather up snow until he had enough to make a rather small lopsided snowman. He stood and smiled down at it before wandering on again.

By the time Remus began to head back to the small stone cottage, night had begun to fall and the sky was a strange shade of purple flecked with the falling snow that had appeared as the weather cooled. Stopping short of the houses backdoor, Remus pushed into the hut that housed the owls.

"Merry Christmas" He whispered before stroking Valentine and Marshals feathers. He wondered if Sirius and James, not to mention Peter had had a good day and that they had received what they had asked for even if it was ridiculously expensive.

He stood in the quiet petting the three owls for quite some time but was suddenly jerked out of his calm demeanour when a spine chilling scream reached his ears. Remus felt his breath hitch and his muscles tensed praying that the scream would stop, but it didn't it just keep crawling into the night. Suddenly without warning he found his feet carrying him towards the backdoor and through to the parlour.

He stopped short; the world had suddenly plunged into a murky sea that muffled all sounds except for the raspy voice of an unfamiliar man.

"Once more Lupin before I lose my patience, where is the boy?" The voice growled, it was terrible sound like ripping flesh magnified into a thick liquid.

"He-he-he's not here" Remus's father choked desperately, fear and pain leaking through his voice.

Remus stood to scared too move, terrified the man would hear his breathing and grab him too. He was a Gryffindor but all courage had left him and replaced it with bone chilling fear that gripped at his legs and arms, refusing to move them.

The man growled again, obviously intent on causing John Lupin pain but before he uttered a single word, he stopped and sniffed.

"Well well, looks like the little cub has come of his own accord" The man sneered before yanking the door open and grabbing Remus harshly by the wrist. He was dressed in shabby robes with ominous stains streaked down the front, his hair was knotted and his bared teeth were a dingy yellow colour like that of a dog.

"I think we should teach daddy a lesson about lying shouldn't we" the man breathed into Remus's ear causing him shudder violently. Looking into his father's eyes he saw his own fear reflected back, John Lupin was covered in bruises and one of his arms was bloody, Remus felt tears welling up in his eyes, he was more scared then he had ever been before in his life, he didn't want to die.

The man laughed before pointing his wand at Remus's head and muttered _Crucio._

Remus screamed and writhed around in the man's tight grip, it seemed to last forever, black began to invade his vision but before he was fully engulfed the pain was lifted. Lightheaded, he felt himself fall forward onto the floor, too exhausted to move or open his eyes.

"You bastard! He's only a child" Luminessa screeched from where she was tied to the armchair.

"Be quiet you old hag" the man spat before casting a silencing charm over her, she struggled shouting silent threats at him. Remus felt himself being lifted off the ground but didn't move, his legs felt like lead as did his head.

The man grabbed his hair and yanked so that Remus's head lolled back exposing his pale neck.

"Little cubs tired, but we can't have slackers so we'll have to punish you" The man drawled gleefully before slowly wrapping his grubby hands around Remus's throat and squeezing. Snapping his eyes open, Remus flailed around trying to break the man's grip on him but before he could, a shooting red spell just missed the dirty man's shoulder and bounced off the wall.

Cursing, the man let go of Remus's throat and dug his nails into the soft flesh of Remus's upper arm instead before spinning on his heal.

Remus was only dimly aware of the vacuum he was being pulled through as the oxygen slowly returned but took away his consciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm soo mean that you arn't even going to find out what has happened to poor remus in the next chapter but the chapter after that :) also if you have the word 'Poo' anywhere in here where it's not suposed to be blame it on twin sister who only recently told me she has been attacking the final copies for fun. :)<strong>


	12. It can't be our Lupin can it?

**Gosh, sorry it's been over a year now since I last updated, I swear I was gonna update pretty soon after but I got writers block and kept putting it off, but I finally knuckled down and wrote the next chapter. **

**I apologise profusely and hope you can all forgive me.**

**Plus gosh I was a horrible 14 year old, jesus, how did you ever put up with me? **

* * *

><p>James and Sirius wandered down the corridor concealed in the invisibility cloak that James' father had given him for Christmas that morning, it was a family heirloom, but in the eyes of the two boys was the greatest key in their plans to become the schools most well known prankers.<p>

Together in the span of three hours they had managed to trick the young caretaker Filch about ten times, each one causing the man to get angrier and angrier until he had resorted to locking himself in the small office that was his domain. When that had happened the two boys began to wander around the castle seeing what they could discover if no one could see them.

Night had fallen by the time they reached the entrance hall, and Sirius was getting a little bit bored with the amount of activity since Filch had hidden away.

"Come on James, can we go now? Nothing's going to happen" Sirius complained loudly as he lent on James's shoulder heavily, dragging his feet. James jerked him off and carried on walking towards the door.

"Aww come on Siri, we can go and explore the grounds" James told him hopefully, trying to rekindle the spark of adventure that had been with them when they first set out.

"It's cold, but I suppose we might as well" Sirius muttered begrudgingly but gave James a small smile just in case. Together they carefully walked towards the door, still clumsy at staying under the cloak with both of them.

Just as Sirius stretched out his hand to pull the door open, James yanked him back and hid in the shadows, his natural instinct taking over and momentarily forgetting he was invisible. Sirius winced as his toe cracked against the wall and was about to cry out when James slapped a hand over his mouth, all was silent for a few seconds, then the frantic pattering of running feet echoed through the vaulted entrance hall.

The sound of running became faster and faster, until James and Sirius suddenly saw a very flustered looking Professor Cove and a frightened Professor McGonagall skidding along the corridor before tumbling down the stone stairs.

"Quickly, Albus wants to speak with the both of us immediately" She muttered urgently to Professor Cove who had begun to head in the direction of the Hospital wing.

"But, what about Poppy…"He began before being tugged down into the middle of the entrance hall "And why are we here? Surly we should be at his office" Sleep was still in his eyes and his speech was a little distorted as his brain tried to wake it's self up.

Before Professor McGonagall could answer the sleepy Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, the large doors leading from the hall and into the grounds were thrown open as Dumbledore and an official looking wizard stumbled through, an old woman with fly away hair following them and a youngish man with greying hair leaning against the smart man's shoulder.

Sirius gasped as the light from one of the candles lit the side of the man's face revealing gruesome swelling and blood, James clapped his hand over his friend's mouth again but couldn't stop himself staring wide eyed out at the scene.

"Professor Cove, would you please help Mr Lupin and Miss Temporecustos to the Hospital Wing, Poppy is waiting for them" The site of all the blood seemed to have snapped Cove's sleepy state away as he quickly leapt forward to help lead the two away.

When it was just Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left in the dimly lit hall, the two boys allowed themselves to breath properly and give each other scared looks. The spark for adventure that had admittedly been slowly puttering out had finally disappeared and all Sirius wanted was to get back into bed and pretend he hadn't seen a man covered in blood who may or may not have been related to Remus. Trying to tug away to indicate to James that he wanted to leave, he was quickly snatched back as the taller of them put his fingers to his lips and slowly start forwards to try and get a better chance at hearing what they were saying.

"What happened?" McGonagall whispered urgently, her hands tight against the front Dumbledore's robes.

"Fenrir Greyback happened, my dear Minerva" He spoke calmly as he peeling her hands from his front and guided them back down to her sides. She made an odd squeaking noise that made James jump in surprise, before she threw a hand to her mouth.

"Oh no…that poor child" Her eyes were glazed and sorrowful; Sirius felt his heart rising into his throat in a distressingly fast fashion and his head began to pound. He didn't like this one bit, why was James trying to find out more? It was stupid, if they went to bed now they could possibly not get involved in all of this.

"The Ministry have got their best men looking for him" What Professor Dumbledore had said must have shocked McGonagall as she stepped back and stared at him incredulously.

"The Ministry? But how Albus? They view him as barely even human" She was graced with a slow smile and a quick reply about connections before he patted her back and indicated to the direction of the Hospital wing. However McGonagall stopped before she reached the steps and turned back with furrowed brows.

"What about his friends, we can't keep them out of it, they'll find out soon enough anyway, don't you think its best we tell them and not the prophet?" Her hand was white against the stone banister as her stress was released in her grip.

"Do not worry Minerva, I'll be talking to them as soon as it is possible" As he finished his speech his eyes slid past Professor McGonagall who had begun to climb the stairs, and fixed on Sirius and James, his eyes peircing behind his half moon glasses.

This time Sirius was met with no resistance when he grasped at James arm: both running as fast as they could back to their dormitory.

~o0O0o~

None of the senior prefects stopped them as they barrelled through the portrait hole, and no one looked up from their conversations or homework. Though Sirius was glad no one paid them any heed, he felt sick to the stomach that the world had just kept going and whilst he was plagued with what he had just witnessed. He wondered if they would so freely have fun if they just found out one of their best friends had possibly been kidnapped.

"Bloody Hell Sirius!" James cried out as they slammed the door of their dormitory shut and threw themselves on to the beds, James onto his own and Sirius onto Remus's.

"No, no, listen James, Dumbledore couldn't have known we were there, it could be any student, right?" Sirius voice was panicked and his hands wouldn't stop shaking as he looked over at his friend imploringly.

"I wish it was Siri, I really do, but no one else in the school is called Lupin, and that man was defiantly called Lupin, plus wasn't Rem's aunt staying over for Christmas?" James hugged the pillar at the end of his bed as he spoke, his fingers working at the grooves in the wood as he spoke.

"Let's just say it's not Remus please, I am not believing it's him unless Dumbledore tells me himself" His breathing was slightly laboured as tried to stop his limbs shaking and his heart from beating like a small bird in cage. Realising he was biting his nails, Sirius quickly grabbed a pillow and clung to that instead.

Falling into his thoughts, Sirius was jerked out of them by a soft snore from James who had fallen asleep still clinging to the pillar, squeezing his eyes shut, Sirius fell backwards and willed himself to do the same.

~o0O0o~

When James and Sirius opened their eyes groggily, it was to a sharp knocking on their door, looking at each other in terror they started to push themselves up, but before either could get fully upright to answer the door, a serious looking Professor McGonagall walked in. Their dishevelled appearances were not lost to her and her face softened slightly.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, The headmaster would like to see both of you immediately"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it's only about a third the length of all the other chapters but I wrote this between coursework and hey, I could have not written anything. Hopefully I should be able to write some more in the next two weeks but definately over easter so you got that to look forward to! <strong>

**I appreicate Reviews and faves a lot but of course it's not nessecary at all. Only if you want to :)**


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